


Not with Haste

by LiveLoveLikeMe



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, F/F, Murder, Parent/Child Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2014-08-17
Packaged: 2018-01-06 00:27:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 14
Words: 72,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLoveLikeMe/pseuds/LiveLoveLikeMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Cora's anger built with each day until she could no longer hold on-- the curse would have to be cast.  What she failed to account for was the arrival of the Savior 28 years later and the way said Savior and her son would take to her dearest pet, Regina.  Swan Queen, contains Black Queen incest.  See inside for list of warnings. Multi-Chap NaNoWriMo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon a Time.
> 
> Warnings: PLEASE READ- This story contains numerous events that could be possibly triggering, including violence, abuse dub/noncon, psychological manipulation, murder, torture, and incest. I really hope I got everything in there, as this story does have darker moments.
> 
> Warning 2: This is a Swan Queen story, but there will be graphic scenes between Cora and Regina, especially in the beginning. You have been warned of the Black Queen incest.
> 
> Author's note: This was my 2013 NaNoWriMo story. I do hope you all enjoy it; this was my chance to explore Regina and her interactions had she not been the one to cast the curse. The entire thing is not dark, but there are many dark subjects touched upon, so I do hope you took the time to read all my warnings. I will try to post them at the beginning of each chapter as a reminder.
> 
> This is a Swan Queen story, but be patient. There are many things to set up, but I promise there will be a great deal with them later on. The Story will go back and forth between the past in Fairy Tale Land and the present in Storybrooke. Rather than making half the story in italics, as that can get annoying, I have opted to write the location at the beginning of each section. Let me know if that works or not, as I can easily change this for your reading convenience. Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you to lunafanning, my lovely and very talented beta reader.

_Fairy Tale Land: Past_

A loud creak could be heard as it echoed throughout the stable, the result of quickening winds knocking the door around on its hinges. Those in the room didn’t hear the sounds, though, as a stronger wailing took precedence the moment Regina looked down and saw the lifeless body of her fiancé sprawled out across the cold, straw-covered floors. Daniel wasn’t breathing; his chest had ceased to rise and fall at a steady pace— at any pace— and Regina found herself utterly helpless with what to do.

She had heard of one thing, one final piece of magic that could defy all odds— True Love’s Kiss. It was said to work wonders, to bend the laws of nature and reunite those destined to remain tied to each other forever. Looking down, Regina wondered if her own chapped lips would be enough to jump-start such a resurrection.

Mother’s words echoed around in her mind, spinning tales of how she was worthless, a failure, and would never amount to anything if she didn’t quit chasing these silly dreams. And really, Regina realized, love must be nothing more than a silly dream, because when she bent down and pressed their lips together in a final act of desperation, leeching the remaining warmth from his still body, she learned that nothing would occur.

If she couldn’t even wake her love from his final slumber, couldn’t even have a love strong enough to transcend life and death, then what could Regina actually do?  What worth still remained within her if she failed at the simplest of tasks?  Daniel was her everything, her biggest source of happiness in a life so dark, and without him she was nothing more than a hollow vessel.

“You foolish girl, get up!” Cora ordered, drawing Regina’s attention away from her dead fiancé.

A strong grasp clenched around the collar of her cloak, yanking her up to her feet before Regina even had time to blink. Her eyes were still on Daniel, reaching out for him in some sort of twisted last attempt, like maybe he would wake up on a delay. Instead, Cora’s other hand gripped onto Regina’s chin, turning her head so they were nose to nose.

“Stop groveling like some child, Regina, it’s time you learn exactly what is expected of you and do as I say.”

“But, Mother,” Regina cried.

“There will be no arguments, Regina. See that?” Cora twisted Regina’s body, so that she was forced to look down at Daniel’s corpse. Pulling her in close, Cora drew near and whispered into her ear, hot breath tingling against Regina’s chilled skin. “The stable boy is no more. I crushed his heart to dust between my fingers, and now he is nothing but the dirt beneath your shoes. He is scum on the path, and ladies don’t step in scum, Regina. Caring for him would only make you into nothing.”

Though her voice became softer as she spoke, Cora’s grip only tightened around Regina. The young girl could barely turn her head without choking for air, and knew struggling would prove worthless. Cora wouldn’t kill her, but she could so very easily do things to make Regina wish she was already dead.

The hand on Regina’s jaw loosened, moving to gently slide against the side of the young girl’s face. Regina trembled under the motion, feeling how Mother’s fingernails pressed into her flesh just hard enough to make her aware— one slip up and they could so easily plunge in and mar that pretty little face without regret.

Regina froze when she felt Cora’s thumb reach up to wipe away some of her tears, the salty residue all she had left as a painful reminder of her fiancé’s death. Tears were weakness, and Cora despised weakness, yet the older woman didn’t seem especially angered by their presence.

That was probably the most disconcerting part of it all; Cora didn’t even seem fazed by their presence. Regina knew something wasn’t right, but she couldn’t put her finger on just what it might be.

“Do you want to be nothing, Regina?” she spat out through clenched teeth, mouth so close to Regina’s own that she could swear their breaths were mixing in the chilling air.

“No, mother,” she answered obediently.

Cora snarled at her, moving closer until her lips barely grazed against Regina’s while she spoke, brushing against the pink flesh with each word. “Then you will be a good girl.”

Regina wanted to nod, but found herself still unable to move in Cora’s vice grip. Instead, she mouthed the word “yes” as her lips ghosted along her mother’s. The answer was barely out before Cora was pulling her in, pressing their lips together in a commanding way that left no room for resistance.

Regina counted the seconds of the kiss, hoping it would soon end after the first three. Mothers were not supposed to kiss their daughters in such a way, yet Cora seemed reluctant to relinquish her hold. A hand slipped up from Regina’s collar and into her hair, gnarling into the brown curls and braids quite painfully, and Cora twisted and tugged her fingers until Regina kissed back, a small cry causing her lips to part just enough for Cora to take a swipe with her tongue before pulling back.

“I’ll be good,” Regina plead, unshed tears forming in her eyes out of fear for what would come next. “I promise, I’ll be good.”

“Yes, you will. But how can I trust you’ll keep your word to me after this farce, hmm? I can’t have my child thinking she can just run off with some frivolous stable hand whenever she feels the urge.” Cora spoke with venom, eyes ablaze as she forced eye-contact on Regina.

“I’ll do anything to show you, I promise. I can be a good girl.” Again, her hair was tugged out, eliciting a small cry of pain.

“And do you know how you’ll show me honesty this time, Regina? After all, you already lied once, and that’s quite unbecoming of a lady.” Cora made a tsking sound, voice rising in feigned pity as she spoke. “How will you prove yourself to me now?”

Regina froze, trying to come up with something her mother might want of her to prove her loyalty. Crossing Cora once had been a risk, now resulting in the death of her Daniel, and she couldn’t dare the thought of the consequences should she do so again. Cora’s grip on her hair and her cheek was just too strong— on her heart in a sense as well— and there was no breaking free.

She was owned, Property of Cora Mills, and always would be.

“Just tell me how and I’ll show you I’m yours, Mother. I’ll marry the King!” Regina tried, desperate for an answer other than the underlying darkness she knew Cora desired most.

If there was one thing Cora Mills wanted, it was power, and Regina was well aware. She’d seen it all her life, in the magic used and the towering glares— every caress that looked like comfort felt to Regina like a leash, a warning to hold her in from stepping too far away. The hand still gnarled into her hair, twisting and pulling each time she hesitated, was a calculated signal. There was no getting out of line in Regina’s life, because every step was carefully guarded, carefully monitored, and she was the property of the woman who wanted it all.

King Leopold, and the royal marriage that would entail, just might be enough to quench the older woman’s constant thirst, no matter how much the idea of being forced into wedlock with such an elderly man repulsed Regina.

“Oh, Regina, you think I still want you to marry him? A King wouldn’t want you now, not after you’ve been with such filth. You’re worth nothing to him this way.” Cora’s tone was condescending as she sized Regina up, eyes racking over her small body in disapproval.

“Mother, please, I never-”

“Enough!” Cora barked, anger quickly taking over the somewhat calm disposition she had been yielding for the past few minutes. “Dirty little whores like you don’t get to speak back.”

Her mouth opened to retaliate, but quickly snapped shut at the realization that she would be disobeying a direct order. Regina felt disgusting and shameful, though knew she had done nothing wrong. It didn’t matter, because Cora’s words were hard and they stuck, sharply piercing her with the thought that the truth was irrelevant.

“What will we tell the King about the wedding being off?” she asked tentatively, nervous at the rage still being directed towards her.

Instead of the expected pain, Regina was stunned to hear a whimsical laughter bubbling out through Cora’s parted lips, causing her mother’s torso to shake against her. “Oh, Regina, the wedding isn’t off, foolish girl.”

Regina frowned, brow crinkling in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s really quite simple, dear. When the King awakens tomorrow, he’ll be notified of your disappearance, and how the grungy stable boy kidnapped you in the night,” Cora explained, a sinister smirk in place.

“I don’t understand, Mother. How can I marry the King if I’m missing?” Regina’s voice was light and innocent, showing her childishness in full swing as she grasped for some sort of understanding.

“He won’t be marrying you, slut. You’re no longer fit to be Queen,” Cora spat.

“Then how will there still be a wedding, Mother?”

“Really, Regina, it’s not hard to follow. But in case you still can’t get it through that thick little head of yours, you’ll have to start calling me by a new name soon.”

“And what is that?” she asked, fearful of the answer.

“Your Majesty.”

As soon as the words were spoken, Regina felt herself becoming wrapped up by a thick cloud of smoke, sucking the air out of her lungs as everything spun and blurred. She felt sick, unused to the magical transportation, but the nausea did nothing to aid her when she realized her predicament.

Cora no longer stood in front of Regina. In fact, no one did. She saw nothing but darkness, scampering rats and drips of water the only things loud enough to penetrate the heavy silence.

It was clear to her what this was— the dungeon kept hidden under their home for Cora’s personal use. Regina was aware of its existence, but never before had she been treated to a glimpse of the dank place. Happiness seemed to rot within these walls, and hope disintegrated with every fallen tear, which Regina finally allowed herself to cry.

Daniel was dead, and Mother was about to fall into a dangerous amount of power, even for her. Regina was certain, in this moment, that her life now belonged to Cora and no one else. In fact, as she thought back to the kiss and the way Cora had reacted to Daniel’s presence in the stable before, perhaps it always had.

* * *

 

_Storybrooke: Present_

As Cora walked up the brick pathway to 108 Mifflin Street, the constant tapping of heels the only sign of life in her steps, she saw a glimpse of someone inside walking past the doorway. _Foolish girl, out to get herself seen again, no doubt,_ Cora thought with an angry snarl, quickening her steps until she reached the front door.

There were two locks to get in, which meant two to get out, as she always used keys to lock and unlock her doors. It made a more affective barricade against the outside world, helping to keep her pet from accidentally escaping. Cora certainly wouldn’t want a travesty like that to happen.

“Regina!” she called out, dropping her briefcase onto the marble floor with a thick thud just inside the doorway. She was not in the mood to play games today, and that would soon become apparent to the foolish girl if she thought she could get away with anything under her nose.

Today marked 28 years from the day Cora first cast the dark curse, and it was just as wonderful as the rest of them had been. She enjoyed the monotony of life, watching everyone submit to her authority as mayor. She was feared by all, especially one person in particular— her daughter. When she brought everyone over with the curse, the question of what to do with Regina had arose. She didn’t want to just leave her back home; where would the fun in that be? She had also considered changing the girl’s name and identity, but decided there was no need. Regina was hers, all hers, and no one else was permitted to even set their eyes upon her.

She had wiped the girl’s memories of home, but the new ones put in place were much more delightful to Cora. She had taken great care with Regina’s in particular, weaving together with precision a mixture of voices in the shadows, of asylums where she was made to feel crazy, and of the tragic fall of her love in a whole new way. Her daughter here was nothing more than a damaged vessel, always lost in thought. Seeing her so hurt, so broken, was exactly what Cora loved about it all. Regina was a lost little thing, always wanting Mother’s comfort, always willing to please her and beg for it, night after night.

Regina Mills was nothing more than a pet for her own play, and it was a marvelous feeling for Cora.

“Regina! Come here, girl, now!” Cora yelled again, angered by the lack of presence the first time.

“Yes, Mother?” a small voice called out from the kitchen doorway.

“You should know better than to keep me waiting.”

“I apologize, Mother.”

Regina turned to the side, coughing roughly into a clenched fist, and Cora could hear the way her lungs rattled with each shaky breath. Twenty-eight years locked in a house could have a poor effect on a person, and while her curse had slowed down the process, there was no doubt in Cora’s mind that it contributed to Regina’s weak frame, pale skin, and often generally poor health. She was currently inflicted with a cough, and had been ever since Cora released her from her last stint in the basement two days prior. The room was just cold and damp enough to constitute a prison, though Cora missed some of the finer aspects, like the dogs and horny castle prison guards.

“Disgusting,” she hissed, cringing at the sound while Regina continued to try and get her breathing under control. “I let you out and this is how you repay me?”

“N-no. I’m sorry,” the meek girl said quietly, looking down at her feet.

Cora shoved her aside, strutting into the kitchen to begin preparing dinner. She walked over to a cupboard, finding a box of long noodles inside, and prepared them to be boiled on the stove. Spaghetti would do nicely, she thought, with a tasteful red sauce.

“And what have I told you about wandering around, Regina? One of those nosy townspeople could have easily spotted you through the window. What were you doing down here?” she snapped.

Regina turned, coughing again into her elbow before muttering something about having needed a glass of water before. Again, Cora’s mind was brought to her daughter’s sickly health. Though she was physically an adult, Regina still retained her long locks, usually kept in braids whenever Cora had the time to do them, and her demeanor matched the childish style. She had deep circles under her eyes, which stuck out exceedingly against the lightness of her sallow skin— all a result of the lack of sun, Cora imagined.

“You’ll have to be punished.” Cora sighed, moving about the kitchen to get the ingredients for her sauce.

“Yes, Mother.”

“After all, what if someone had seen you, Regina? Then I’d have to send you back, and I think we both know you wouldn’t like that to happen, right darling? All those straps and the long needles they kept poking into your flesh, leaving it pink and bruised. And the screaming, all night long when they brought out the electric machines. You don’t want to go back there, do you, Regina?”

Though she was facing away, Cora smirked through the calmness of her own voice as she spoke. The place in reference had never existed, at least not for Regina, but in her mind it would be as real as anything else. She saw the haunted look cross her daughter’s face at every mention, felt the fear practically radiating off her at the thought of having to return, and often used it to extract obedience quite effectively.

“No!” Regina answered quickly, voice rising just above a whisper, which was the closest thing to a rise Cora could get out of Regina anymore. Her breathing quickened, made known by the continuous rattling that made its way to Cora’s ears.

“Then in the future you should listen. Now, come here.” Cora had everything cooking on the stove by now, and felt confident in walking away for a moment. She faced Regina, crooking a finger at the woman while she slowly made her way over.

Cora reached up, brushing a hand across Regina’s cheek. The flushed weakness that marred her once beautifully tan skin as a result of her captivity was starting to cut at her nerves. “Would you like to get outside, Regina?” she asked softly, running her thumb along Regina’s bottom lip.

“Yes, Mother.” Regina looked at her with hopeful eyes.

“Your skin is getting too pale, you need some sun. Perhaps it would be beneficial to let you out for an hour a day. If you behave, that is.” Cora looked at her pointedly, stopping the movement of her thumb. She clenched her hand around Regina’s jaw, holding her head in place so the meek girl couldn’t look away.

“Won’t I be seen?” Regina asked carefully, and Cora could tell her mind was flickering to the thought of being caught and brought back to the asylum.

Cora mused over the thought for a moment, considering the chances of the girl being found. Regina wouldn’t dare run off, far too much dependent on her mother’s love. And even if she tried, Cora could easily place the collar around her neck. The backyard of the 108 Mifflin Street manor was completely surrounded by hedges, blocking out the view from any prying eyes. Regina was no fun as weak as she was, and sunlight couldn’t hurt.

“If you stay where I tell you, you’ll be fine.” The words were far from reassuring though, and Cora’s eyes took on a threatening depth.

“Thank you, Mother,” was Regina’s nearly robotic answer. She spoke always with a form, always without emotion, because Cora didn’t like to see emotion in her daughter. She liked to punish emotion and all the weakness it entailed. Her daughter was uselessly weak enough as it was.

Anger building up again, Cora realized she had yet to punish Regina for her little indiscretion. She couldn’t let her think she’d get away with disobeying by letting her off once, so Cora smirked as she thought of what she could do.

Tightening her grip around Regina’s jaw firmly enough to elicit a gasp, Cora moved in, covering the soft lips of her prey with her own. Regina stilled in her arms at first, presumably confused by the punishment, which made a heat in Cora’s lower extremities swirl dangerously. She didn’t even consider a kiss punishment anymore, because she _liked_ it. Regina knew where she belonged, and wanted it enough to beg.

The kiss wasn’t Cora’s punishment, though. She could feel the moment Regina started to realize what was, because she tensed up, so close to the edge of pushing away. Cora could feel how Regina jerked against her, could taste the tears running down her cheeks in pain as they reached the space where their lips touched. Cora’s lungs were sturdy and strong, able to withstand at least a minute more. But Regina’s were contracting in her chest, burning with the need to cough, and Cora would not let up. She held on tightly and wound one hand around to the back of Regina’s head, shoving her closer to eliminate any possible space between them.

Regina jerked and shook in her hold, feeling like she might burst, yet Cora still didn’t let up until her own need for air began to become a problem. As soon as she released her hold and let her glossed lips pop away, Regina began to choke. Cora watched in satisfaction as the younger woman couldn’t choose between coughing and breathing, letting her fall to the floor when her legs gave out during the struggle.

After watching her daughter helplessly gasp for air and cough raggedly on the kitchen floor, Cora sighed, realizing she was in no state to attend dinner. She bent over, crooking her fingers in a vice grip around Regina’s upper arm, and tugged until she was half standing from the force. Not caring to give her and her weak lungs a second to catch up, Cora yanked her towards the open basement door, marching her down the stairs and leaving once she’d propped the still gasping girl against the railing at the bottom.

The door slammed stridently behind her.

A loud thud could be heard, presumably the sound of Regina’s body collapsing onto the ground at the bottom of the stairs, but she couldn’t be bothered to care. The sauce was beginning to bubble and deserved more of her attention.

 

~*~

 

In another part of town, a strange yellow bug passed the sign reading “Welcome to Storybrooke,” and the driver of said vehicle sighed in annoyance.

“Mom, are we there yet?” Henry asked, bouncing in his seat on the passenger side.

Emma smiled, trying to feign excitement for her son. He still viewed this as an exciting new adventure, and she wouldn’t dare try to take that from him. It was better that he didn’t know the real reason for the sudden move, that a man she’d been following had gotten too close and now wanted her head on a platter. They would be safe here, protected from the mainstream city life and all the horrors it entailed. Henry might actually start to get a decent education, if the school was anything like she’d read, and it looked like Emma might actually get a steady job as the Sheriff’s Deputy.

Small town life sounded boring and droll, but maybe that was just what the two of them needed for a change.

“Yeah, kid. Looks like we’re here.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own these characters but I wish I did.
> 
> Warnings: PLEASE READ- This story contains numerous events that could be possibly triggering, including violence, abuse dub/noncon, psychological manipulation, murder, torture, and incest. Swan Queen is coming but there is and will be Black Queen involved.
> 
> Author's Notes: I am sorry this has taken so long. I was hoping to get it back from my Beta, but I already waited a week longer than I was planning to, and I didn't want to put this off any longer. It has been proofread many times, so hopefully my edit-job on my own work is up to par. This entire chapter is flashback, but don't worry, Emma comes in again next chapter.

_Fairy Tale Land: Past_

Cora stalked down the corridor, the clicking of her heels echoing off the vast stone walls with each angry pace. It wasn’t difficult for Cora to feign anger and worry. She had a goal, a means of getting there, and a wicked grin that was enough to fool any man once. Today was simply a matter of playing the part of a distraught mother, and it was a feat she would take on with grace.

“Henry!” she bellowed, slamming open the doors to the dining hall where they were feeding the King and his daughter as their royal guests. Everyone startled at the sound, her husband especially, who flinched in a manner that was almost telling of just how much he feared her. She would have to punish him for that later.

“What is it, Dear?” he managed to squeak out, standing from his seat as she approached. Before responding, she took her spot at the head of the table, turning her impatient stare on him until he resumed sitting, only after she’d been respectfully seated in her perch.

“It’s Regina. I can’t find her anywhere, and I just fear…” she trailed off, lacing worry into her tone just enough to pique the attention of all surrounding ears.

“Maybe she’s in the stables?” young Snow piped up, an eager smile on her face. Cora imagined her mind was thrumming full of true love’s kisses and rainbows with unicorns dancing all around. It was sickening, really, and she needed to shoot it down immediately.

“I’m afraid not, dear Snow. I’ve already had a servant go check.” Cora sighed, drooping her shoulders slightly in defeat. She had, in fact, had a servant go check, knowing exactly what would be found once they did.

“Nothing has turned up?” Henry finally said, his mousy personality doing little more than grating on her nerves. There was one part of this plan she was more than ready to get started on, especially now.

“I don’t know. I’m still waiting for them to return, as I sent one back to double check. I know that insolent stable boy can’t seem to keep his eyes where they belong, so perhaps he knows something.”

A gentle hand covered one of hers, and she looked up to meet the eyes of the King, who was watching her with deep sympathy. “Don’t worry about Regina. I’m sure she’s just gotten off somewhere around here, and will show up any minute.”

Cora sighed heavily, frowning as she looking back. This smirk was especially difficult to bite back. “I hope you’re right. I just don’t know what I would do if anything happened to her. Regina is my entire world, you see. It’s just so hard to find a girl who could make her mother prouder.” Cora felt the added touch was sweet, putting both the King and his snot-nosed offspring right into the palm of her hand— the easiest place to crush them.

Henry, however, stayed silent. She knew he was too afraid to comment on what she’d said, or to speak back to her, but it was really just pathetic how easily he let her walk over the situation. Yes, she really was going to enjoy this.

Just as she was about to go on, milking all she could out of the conversation  while they awaited word, the door to their right banged open.

“Your highness,” a guard said, approaching her only after she waved him forward.

“Have you located my daughter?” she asked, a hopeful glint to her tone.

The guard shifted on his feet, clearly afraid to tell her what he had discovered in the stables. She’d been so meticulous, so careful to plan it all out accordingly, that she didn’t blame the man for his squandered fear. Everyone knew the consequences of telling Cora Mills something they didn’t believe she wanted to hear.

“No, Regina was nowhere to be found. But…” he trailed off, shaking in his boots before them.

“Come now, out with it, boy. It won’t do well to make a mother worry longer than she needs to. What has become of Regina?” This time it was the King who spoke up, gathering the attention of anyone who hadn’t already been listening in on the conversation and making Cora smirk with satisfaction.

“We went back to the stables to ask the stable boy, but he wasn’t there. One of the horses was missing, and there were things thrown about everywhere, as if some sort of struggle persisted.”

“Is that all?” Cora drawled, hoping the boy wasn’t as useless as he seemed.

“No, we found this.” He held up a small pink flat shoe that Regina had been wearing a lot recently. It was the key piece of the puzzle, the one thing that would act on her side without dispute, and she wished she could pat herself on the back for thinking of it but frowned upon the open display of affection.

“Boy, go to the village and summon up a searching party. That is certainly my daughter’s shoe.” Cora waved a hand, dismissing the boy quickly, knowing nothing would come of his searches, no matter how hard he tried.

“You think she’s run away with Daniel?” Snow asked, that dreamy look still in her eyes. Cora wanted to snatch it away and burn it right in front of her face, but knew she couldn’t do such a thing with the King so close by.

“Without her shoe? No, Regina would never be so senseless.” _Yes she would,_ Cora thought to herself, because everything her daughter did was foolish and careless. It was the reason she had to be punished now, as she could no longer be trusted to carry out the marriage Cora was depending upon. Trying to sneak off with the help was unbecoming of a young lady, and Cora knew she needed to put an end to the very thought before it reflected poorly on her as well. “Besides, Dear, she’s betrothed to your father. I fear that retched boy has taken her captive.”

“I’m sure she’ll be all right,” the King tried, comforting her with another pat on the hand. Cora returned her gratitude with a “kind” smile, slipping in enough syrupy sweetness to drown them all.

“I just don’t know what I’ll do without her. Henry, perhaps you should take to the woods. He couldn’t have gotten far, could he?”

She saw the flicker of hesitation in his eyes as he sized her up quietly, likely looking for an angle to spin her words off, but Cora knew she didn’t have to worry; his concerns over their daughter’s well being would easily win out over any thoughts of what she might be trying to do to him. And refusing to go, well, the coward would never wish to look bad in front of the King, even if he did wish to spite her.

“Yes, of course. If you truly think Regina’s been taken captive.” Henry jumped to his feet, looking as though he was ready to move into action, but she could see the second guessing of every step. For an imbecile, Cora had to commend him here. He acted as though he knew he’d be soon marching off to his own death.

“Oh, I just know she has. Someone needs to save her, Dear. I don’t even want to think what might be done to her if we’re too late.” Cora covered her face with her hands, pretending to weep while simultaneously covering her smirk from sight. She hated displays if weakness, but figured this once it would be acceptable. Her part to play was that of the distraught mother, and distraught mothers were notorious weepers.

“What might be done to her, Father?” a small voice asked. It was Snow, now suddenly showing concern and breaking out of her happy love daze, just as Cora had hoped she would.

Silence fell, aside from the muffled sound of Cora’s cries, and she felt a hand on her back touching her shoulder very carefully. She didn’t have to look to know from the hesitant motions that it was her husband, trying to look the part of the comforter he never could fulfill. Cora wanted to cringe, to scream at him for the act when it was so far from the truth. The only thing that man was good for was his status, and even now that didn’t hold enough appeal for Cora to continue holding on.

“Things I hope you never have to hear about, Snow,” Leopold finally replied. Cora peeked through her parted fingers, witnessing the sight of the man taking his daughter into his arms, both with looks of worry on their faces. Cora smirked— she had them right where she wanted them, puddles to mold and gain pity from with nothing more than a simple look.

She hadn’t lied, exactly. The stable was absolutely a mess, Regina was being held captive, and she was surely going to have many glorious acts done to her body over the course of the days to come. Cora’s smile grew malicious as she thought of the girl, still hidden away in the cell right under their noses. Of course, no one would ever bother to check there. That was no place for a princess to take residence, and so a kidnapping would easily become a believable story.

“Henry, you should go,” Cora said coldly, removing her hands to look up at her husband for one final time, and it felt like one time too many as she did.

“Right.  I’ll return by sundown,” he said, looking at everyone carefully, like a last silent plea for Regina to turn up when he knew it could never be the case.

“Goodbye, Dear,” Cora called, watching with baited breath as he finally stepped from the confines of the room.

An unexpected tugging of her sleeve brought Cora’s attention down, and she noticed it was young Snow who now remained at the side of her chair, unshed tears in her eyes.

“I’m sure he’ll find Regina, don’t you think? It will all be all right.”

“Oh, Snow,” Cora spoke sadly, watching the girl who was about to lose a second mother-figure look at her hopefully. She imagined comfort from another person was supposed to sound a bit more comforting than that, but Cora didn’t add anything. Instead, she wrapped her arms around the princess, tucking the girl’s dark curls beneath her chin. It almost reminded her of when Regina had been younger and always sought her out for consolation, even though she knew none would be given.

“I hope you’re right, dear Snow. I just spoke to Regina last night, and I know she was so happy to be joining your family and becoming your mother.”

“Well, Cora, you seem to me like a wonderful mother. I’m sure Regina has learned well enough from you to get back and impart that wisdom down to my daughter.”

_Yes_ , Cora thought, her wisdom would certainly be imparted on young Snow. In time, they would all realize it just wouldn’t be Regina doing so. And as she wrapped her arms tighter around Snow, Cora saw how Leopold looked on approvingly.

She was so close, she could taste it. Now all her idiotic husband had to do was die and try not to mess that up.

* * *

 

_Fairy Tale Land: Past_

It took a considerable amount of time, but eventually Regina’s eyes began to adjust in the darkness just enough for her to make out her surroundings. She was on the ground, sitting in a pile of damp straw that lined the floors of her mother’s prison cell. Few knew this even existed, as it had been a part of their home rarely used. Cora had a tendency for preferring a much more immediate means of punishment. It was with that thought in mind that Regina begrudgingly began to admit to herself that no one would be coming for her.

She could make out the shape of a small cot in the corner of the cell, likely ruined with age. Regina could already feel the effects of the dust and straw mixing with the damp air and wreaking havoc on her sinuses. She considered moving to the cot to get away from some of the irritating straw, but couldn’t find the will within herself to move. Somehow the metal bars holding her captive were more than constricting enough.

_Daniel is dead._

That’s all her mind was able to repeat, over and over on a loop. Regina was in disbelief, still able to remember how his lips felt pressed against her own, how he would tenderly hold her while she cried, and how his voice was strong and soothing when she needed it to be. How could someone she remembered so clearly, felt so deeply, suddenly be gone? It didn’t make sense— none of it did. They were to be married, and she was going to get her happily ever after with her true love.

But her kiss hadn’t woken Daniel from his slumber. Regina hadn’t been enough, and she never was enough.

Her mother was right; she was entirely worthless to the world now. Without Daniel, there was no reason to fight. With the bars containing her, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, no chance of escape from a life of solitude and punishment under Cora’s control.

Daniel was dead, and she was left alone to grieve him.

Regina’s mind tried to play back the night before. Or maybe it still was the very same night; there was no sense of time left within these dark walls and everything blurred together. She could have been imprisoned for five minutes or five days— there was no way of knowing, and finding out would only make her hunger feel worse.

She recalled that one moment of happiness where Mother had seemed like she would accept Regina’s marriage to Daniel. It had been blissful agony, seeing something she do desperately craved, only to have it used as a trap against her. His heart was nothing but dust, crushed between the very same fingers Mother often used to… punish her. Regina wasn’t sure where she went wrong, exactly. She had been so careful, telling no one but Snow of her plans.

But that was it, the key right there. No one but Snow White had knowledge of her love for Daniel, and she had been so cautious to keep her mother from suspecting anything. The only way she could have known was if Snow had spilled her secret.

Regina felt anger flare in her chest, a feeling she was somewhat unfamiliar with. It was more than just the way she would feel as a child having a tantrum. This burst felt like a fire, a mixture of hate and rage all bubbling together inside her, and it threatened to break out and burn them all down. She immediately both despised the sensation and clung to it, needing to feel something other than the immense pain of her loss.

Snow White was the reason she was in this hell; she was the lock holding Regina’s prison door closed. The little brat needed to pay. She needed to feel the pain she had caused when she opened her mouth. Mother had no choice. Mother did what she had to do to give her daughter what was best, and Regina could see that now. It was Snow White who made Cora believe Regina needed to be punished. It was her who painted Daniel to be a disease in need of eradication.

Regina released a scream, anger seeping from her veins as she pictured the girl’s head on a pike. She was a murderer and a liar who couldn’t keep a secret if her own life depended on it. Regina imagined all the things her mother had done to her being done to Snow. It was such an easy sight to picture, especially when she considered how Cora had revealed her plan to be Queen. A deep, deluded chuckle bubbled up through Regina’s lips as she thought of how Snow would be getting the new mother she so desperately wanted after all. There was no thought spared for if Cora’s plan didn’t work out; Regina was more than accustomed to the fact that Cora never lost unless she wanted to lose.

“Hello, darling,” a deep voice suddenly purred through the darkness, and though she couldn’t make the figure out, Regina knew from the way the hairs stood up on the back of her neck that it was Cora.

She stayed silent but knew her involuntary sniffles from the cold air would give her location away to the crazed woman.

“What, not even so much as a thank you? I thought you’d be happy not to have to marry the King now, Regina.” She heard every step as Mother approached, jumping when a hand landed sharply across her cheek with a loud crack.

“I- I am, Mother,” Regina managed to sputter, wary of her answers and what Cora would do with her now that she had surely taken care of her plans.

“Good girl,” she whispered, lightly trailing her fingertips over the stinging area of Regina’s face. If there had been light, she was certain it would be bright red by now. She felt a hot breath against her lips, signaling that Cora had moved closer, and Regina was beginning to make out the shape of her body as she adjusted to the change. “It won’t be much longer now,” Cora mused.

“Until what?” Under normal circumstances, Regina wouldn’t dare question her mother. Now, however, she knew it was all part of the game. Cora wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want to tell her everything, every little detail of how she would hurt her and pick her life apart at the seam. Everything moved only as Cora willed it to move.

In lieu of an answer, Cora pressed her lips roughly against Regina’s, parting them moments later and taking Regina’s bottom lip between her teeth. She kneaded and sucked, making the lower lip throb and the sound of it echoed through Regina’s head. Pulling away with a satisfied pop, Cora chuckled. “Until I can take you as mine, and no one will be around to stop me,” she whispered. “You see, in a few hours time, they’ll find your father’s body, and his hand will be wrapped around your blood-covered cloak. No one will even question what’s happened, how Daniel’s taken off, murdered you, and then killed him when he found you both a few miles out in the woods.”

Regina’s shock must have been apparent, because she could almost hear Cora seething through the darkness at her. Most of that was to be expected, and even her own death being faked wasn’t entirely surprising, as much as it bothered her. But Regina hadn’t accounted for the very obvious fact that her father would die.

“Daddy?” she whispered, close to tears again.

“Don’t tell me you’ll miss that imbecilic man, Regina? You’re much better than that. How could you miss a man who never even stood up for his little princess? All the times he watched me touch you and wrap my fingers so tightly around your neck I thought you might break, and he never did a single thing to stop me. He never protected you, my love.”

She knew the words were meant to manipulate, to cause her more pain, but Regina couldn’t help finding the truth in them. Everything Cora said was right; he had never done a thing to help her, and he hadn’t even shown her love unless they were hidden far out of Cora’s grasp on rare occasions. It stung to hear the truth acknowledged, because she loved him very much. But Regina could do nothing to squelch the feeling of betrayal that boiled in her belly when she realized she was no better off with him dead or alive.

At least in death she might be able to understand why he never could come to her rescue.

“You’re right. I don’t care what you do to him,” she managed to say without bursting into tears at the reality of her words.

“And what should I do, Regina? What can I do to him to keep you from having to marry that horrible King? How can we punish him for letting you get hurt?” Cora cooed.

“Kill him,” she breathed.

Of all the responses Regina was expecting, a sharp stinging across the palm of her hand, followed by a cloth being pressed into it, was not even remotely on the list. She hissed as the pain hit her and the realization of what it meant settled in. Cora needed her blood on the cloak to feign her death, and though she could have just as easily killed a cow to get some, she chose the painful route.

Regina would forever have a hand in her father’s death.

“Oh, Regina. I fully intend to.”

This time, when the lips pressed against hers, they were softer. Cora was being gentle, satisfied with having gotten what she wanted, and Regina found herself unable to resist returning the kiss. She craved the affection, no matter how she got it, and the darkness only made her want it more.

“Enough,” Cora husked, pulling away firmly once Regina started to respond. “There will be time for that later, my love.”

When she heard the other woman stand, Regina frowned, her head finally clearing enough to bring her back to the reality of her situation and the startling fact that her mother was leaving her again. Before she left, though, something round was pressed into Regina’s palm. She felt it in confusion, trying to discern what was hard in some spots, yet squishy in others.

“It’s an apple, for your dinner,” Cora explained, as if she’d read Regina’s mind. The voice was getting further away, and soon she couldn’t even hear the clacking of heels any longer.

The apple, she soon realized, was softer in spots because it was rotten. She cringed at the thought of tasting something so vile that not even the animals would touch, yet her stomach growled loudly. Regina shrugged, figuring she couldn’t be sick from it if she hadn’t eaten in far too long, and held the rotten fruit to her lips before digging in.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Once.
> 
> WARNINGS: Gruesome things ahead.
> 
> Author's note: It is earlier than usual but I am leaving in a few short hours to go out of town for the week and wanted to get this up for you all before then. Enjoy! We are getting closer to Swan Queen. Thank you for your kind reviews.
> 
> Also, Henry is 5 in this. Why? Because I thought he would be cuter that way.

_Present: Storybrooke_

Emma hiked down the stairs, trying to catch up to her energetic five year old before he could reach the diner and cause unimaginable chaos in his early morning scramble for food. They had spent the night at a place called Granny's since it was the only available inn Storybrooke apparently had to offer, and she hadn't had enough time to secure a place to live before leaving on such short notice. She would have felt bad about making Henry sleep in a hotel, but honestly, the rooms weren't much smaller than their old apartment. He seemed to be viewing it all as some exciting adventure, so rather than tear down his fun, she let him have his moment.

Underneath Granny's Bed and Breakfast was a little diner, and the older woman had informed her it was just about the only place in town to get a decent meal. The smell of pancakes wafting through the air as she neared was uplifting. If this would be the only place they got any food for the next couple of weeks, Emma was damn certain it would have to be good, and the smell was as good a sign as any.

"Morning!" the chipper waitress with the red hair yelled from over the counter. Emma made it down just in time to see her son bounding up to her and trying to hoist himself onto one of the high counter chairs in order to get a better view.

_What a little ladies man_ , Emma thought, grinning to herself as she came up behind her son and hoisted him up so he could take a seat at the counter. Emma had to admit, at least he had good taste. The woman was a little young for her standards, but she was nice to look at, and Emma always did have a certain soft spot for brunettes.

"Hi! Sorry about that," Emma apologized, looking down at her son who was already chatting away to the waitress, completely oblivious to whether or not she was actually able to keep up with a word he was saying.

"Ruby," she said with a smile, holding out a hand for Emma to shake. Henry, of course, took advantage of this opportunity and grabbed it before Emma could have a chance to respond, giving the waitress his very best "manly" shake he could muster.

"I'm Henry," he announced, grinning proudly.

"Well, Henry," Ruby said with a smirk as she leaned down to be closer to his level, "what can I get you for breakfast?"

"Hmmm," he began, holding a finger to his chin dramatically, as if this would be a tough decision for the boy who literally wanted the exact same thing every morning. "I think I will have … Do you have chocolate chip pancakes?" he asked. Emma wanted to snort at how polite he was acting. Oh yeah, her son took being a charmer to the next level when he wanted to. If only she could get him to behave that well when it was just her.

"That all?" Ruby asked.

"And a hot chocolate. With whipped cream. And cinnamon, please," Henry finished, adding in a dazzling little smile at the end.

"You got it. And for you?" This time, Ruby was looking up at Emma .

"I'll have the same," Emma said, not wanting to complicate it. And yeah, maybe Henry's breakfast plan just sounded really good. She could at least try and pretend that it was merely for the sake of convenience, right?

"Two orders of chocolate chip pancakes and two hot chocolates, with the works. Coming right up!" The chipper brunette disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Emma alone with Henry for the time being. She felt like there were eyes on her, and being skilled in her job, didn't want to risk looking around. Being watched was a terrible feeling, and it was beginning to make Emma feel nervous.

"Henry," she whispered, leaning down to the boy's ear, "are we being watched?"

The one thing her son had evidently not inherited from her was her ability to be subtle. He twisted in his chair, looking around quite obviously while Emma blushed in embarrassment. So maybe asking him hadn't been her brightest idea. Leave it to Henry to attract even more attention in their direction.

"Hey Ruby, why is everyone staring at us?" he blurted out the moment the waitress was back from the kitchen.

She seemed taken aback by the question for a moment before a smile spread across her face. "Really, guys? Come on, stop staring at the newbies. You'll scare them away!" Ruby yelled, getting the attention of every person in the diner who wasn't already infatuated with them. Emma was pretty sure she wanted to sink into the floor. So much for finding a place to blend in, away from it all. On the flip side, everyone did seem to listen to the waitress' words, and after staring for another moment, they all turned back to their conversations.

"Sorry about that…" Ruby trailed off, and Emma realized this was the part where she was supposed to supply her name.

"Emma Swan."

"Nice to meet you, Emma. Like I said, sorry. We don't get a lot of visitors around here, so it's quite an anomaly when we do, and some people just don't know how to not stare."

"It's fine." Emma shrugged. The idea of everyone thinking of her as the new town toy was a little disconcerting, but she knew she'd have to deal with it. Henry didn't even seem fazed by the fact that they were now the center of attention, so it couldn't be too bad.

Ruby walked a few steps away, working a machine to pour out two steaming cups of hot chocolate, quickly setting to work on the requested toppings. "So tell me, Emma Swan, what brings you here? No offense, but Storybrooke isn't exactly optimal vacationing territory," Ruby remarked.

Emma wasn't one for small talk. In fact, she hated it, and unfortunately it seemed like a very integral part of this town, if what she'd seen so far was anything to go by. Everyone was so friendly; they knew everything about each other and seemed to have no respect for privacy. The entire concept was bizarre, yet welcoming in a weird sort of way that made her feel uneasy but desperate to understand.

"Why not?" Henry piped in, ignoring the fact that the question from the "pretty lady" hadn't been directed at him at all.

"Well, not a lot happens around here. I've lived here my entire life and never even passed the town line. How boring is that?" Ruby whined, leaning against the counter to hand Henry his drink. Emma's was slid across to her, and she accepted it with a grateful smile.

"Pretty boring, I guess," Henry frowned, and Emma was quick to jump on that before the comment could change his mind, which had so far been highly in favor of the move.

"I don't know, Henry. This morning I looked out our window and saw Superman run by. It can't be that boring, can it?"

Henry fixed her with a look,  _the look,_  that told her he was not buying one bit of her crap, no matter how much she tried to sell it for.

"Nice try, Mom." Again, his attention turned back to Ruby, and Emma was left to enjoy her cocoa for a moment in peace.

"We're here because Mom's gonna be the new deputy," he told her proudly, and Emma felt her chest swell at the endearment. She hadn't always been the best provider for her son, doing the most kid friendly jobs and the like, but Emma had always done her best to make sure he was safe and loved. It wasn't perfect, but he seemed to still love her and had all his limbs still in place, so it was a nice motivator to wake up each morning when she knew her son would still be smiling at her no matter what shit happened outside their home.

"Very cool. Sheriff Graham's a good guy. You two will enjoy him," Ruby said with a smile.

"Order up!"

Ruby walked away and grabbed two heaping plates off the window-counter area separating them from the kitchen. She quickly set them down in front of Emma and Henry, laughing at their twin looks of glee when they took in the amount of oozing chocolate.

"So, where are you from, anyways?" Apparently the small talk was continuing.

"Boston," Henry said through a mouth full of pancakes. Emma looked over at him with a glare, reminding her son to chew before speaking. At least he had the good graces to look guilty at having been caught in such a compromising position in front of the waitress.

"Wow, Boston to Storybrooke. I can see how that's a logical choice right there," Ruby joked, though Henry seemed to take her completely seriously as he just nodded in agreement.

"My mom says that we're coming here because it's safer and the people are nicer. Is she right?"

Ruby opened her mouth to reply, slightly surprised by the answer, and Emma could tell there was something more she wanted to say before the door burst open. A bell rang loudly through the diner, and unlike before when Ruby had seemed so relaxed around the patrons, the young waitress stood to attention and moved down the counter to prepare a cup of coffee.

"Miss Lucas, my usual if you please."

Emma looked over and took in the sight of a slightly older woman dressed in a power suit. She stood next to the cash register, wallet already out to pay for her order and Emma took advantage of the moment to size her up. There was something about this woman that she couldn't quite put her finger on, but it was leaving Emma with a niggling sensation in the back of her mind. She was gorgeous, that was certain, but there was an icy chill the woman gave off that was enough to turn anyone away— even the affections of little Henry.

"Coming right up, Madame Mayor."

_So she's the mayor, huh?_  Emma gulped, not intent on having to deal with this particular woman anytime soon. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be a choice up to her, as Henry was already waving at her from his seat, completely oblivious to the tension in the room around them.

Curiously, the woman approached them both, eyes squinting down as she looked them over. She gave Emma one of those annoying checks other women sometimes did, where she took in her clothing choices and cringed to show her lack of approval. Emma disliked her already and not a word had been spoken.

"Hello, I'm Cora Mills, Mayor of this town. You appear to be new. Are you travelers?" Her tone sounded sweet enough, but Emma couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was something much darker behind it.

"Emma Swan," she said, reaching out to meet the offered hand. Emma steeled her face against a cringe when she felt her fingers crushed in a vice grip, but she maintained it, not wanting to appear weak to the woman who would technically be her new boss. "And no. I'm the new deputy for the sheriff's department. We just got in last night."

"I see," Cora spoke. Her eyes drifted over to Henry who was in the middle of stuffing a huge piece of pancake into his mouth. At having gained her attention, Henry dropped his fork with a loud clatter. He beamed a smile in the Mayor's direction, yet-to-be-swallowed pancakes puffing out his cheeks like a little chipmunk. Emma inwardly groaned, recognizing that smile for what it was and wishing she could get his attention back to the waitress, because that was the look of a little boy with a brand new "pretty lady" and not one Emma really wanted to have to deal with.

"Hi! I'm Henry Swan," he announced proudly. Emma was relieved that he at least had the decency to swallow first, though it wouldn't have been too shocking had he not. Her little boy could charm the pants off just about anyone, but god forbid he practice some manners once in a while.

Of course, her relief came a moment too soon, as one of his syrup covered sticky hands reached out in Mayor Mills' direction, fully intending to shake as he had with Ruby. Emma took her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down as she watched Cora slowly look down as her face morphed into disgust.

"Charming," she remarked with a grimace, instead settling for patting him once on the head. Emma almost snorted. While she understood better than anyone not wanting to touch the kid's sticky fingers— how had he managed to get so much on them so quickly anyways?— there wasn't any way her reaction could have been any colder if she'd flat out ignored him. Henry, however, seemed oblivious and just smiled wider.

"Deputy Swan, if you have in fact actually been hired yet, that is. It would do you well to remember your place in this town. I keep a tight ship, after all, and I wouldn't want that getting in the way of any of your… fun." Emma had never encountered artificial sweetness in such high doses before, but Cora seemed to be positively dripping in it. How had she managed to piss her off so quickly? "And really, dear. Do something about that boy while you can."

Emma was not expecting those words, but she was sure as hell ready to fight her over them, Mayor or not. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for Cora, Ruby chose that moment to hand the woman her to-go cup of coffee. Without so much as a goodbye, she pivoted and walked out the door, shoving an unfortunate patron to the side without even flinching.

"I know what you're thinking, and no."

"Huh?" Emma looked to Ruby, still too stunned by what transpired to put her puzzling words together.

"Mayor Mills. She's always like that. Most people around here call her the dragon lady, but you didn't hear that from me."

"Dragons are cool!" Henry exclaimed, bouncing up and down in his seat.

"No way, kid. You have it all wrong. Dragons are angry and hotheaded. What you need is a good old werewolf…"

* * *

 

_Past: Fairy Tale Land_

Cora wept softly into her handkerchief, feigning the demeanor of a lady trying to compose herself as she magically created a few delicate tears to roll down her cheeks. She was now playing the part of the grieving mother and widow. A servant boy had awoken her for breakfast with a panicked look on his face, and she knew they had discovered Henry's body. It was more disappointing than anything that it had taken all night, after she'd sent some of them to go search when he didn't return by sundown.

Another hour and she would have poofed herself into the woods to "happen upon" the dead fool herself.

Cora's memories of the night before were quite fond. After her visit to Regina, she had made her way into the woods. She didn't bother disguising herself. There was nothing more satisfying than knowing that he would know exactly what was coming for him. As expected, Henry was startled to see her appear, but seemed grateful at first. Apparently the old man was lost in the woods, having been too filled with worry over Regina that he lost track of himself.

She imagined it was her silent smile that tipped him off at first. As soon as he saw it his words stopped and his little legs began to shake. She cringed as the bulge in his neck shifted with an accompanying gulp. Henry was very well aware that it was his time to die.

Looking back, she figured he deserved it. The coward never even tried to run, not because he seemed prepared to stand up for himself or fight back— he hadn't even tried to plead for his life during those very final moments— but because he was too busy simply staring at her. The meek excuse for a man didn't even possess enough strength to question his own death; he just stood there and took it as if he was already gone.

Yes, Henry deserved that death. Life only belongs to those willing enough to take it.

Regina at least possessed some fight to her, so Cora saw her fit to live in some way. She didn't deserve a life of her own anymore, though, as she had proven herself incapable of making the right decisions. Now she would be all Cora's to mold and to play with, like a pet, and those decisions she couldn't be trusted with would float away with her supposed death.

But Henry, with all his years of pent-up frustration and anger he could have taken out on her, did nothing. When she plunged her hand into his chest, aside from a squeak of pain, he made no sound, no effort to pull away. Crushing the glowing organ felt almost too easy, as she didn't need it to control him. Henry was just a vessel, never out to stop her, but never out to love her either. He was weak, relying on his love for Regina. That had led him out into the woods and then to his death.

"Oh, Henry. How many times have I had to tell you, dear. Love is weakness, and you're far too weak, you foolish man." She had laughed after saying as much, then squeezed, watching his tiny little heart turn to dust that fell through the cracks between her fingers.

He collapsed to the ground with a pathetic thud, lying as a lump in death just the same as he had in life. Utterly worthless.

As a final gesture of spite, Cora bent down to the ground and yanked his pants low enough to display his member— short and fat, just like him. She had despised this particular part of their marriage most of all, so it was with the utmost satisfaction that she grabbed it in a vice grip between her fingers, yanked it up, and sliced it off from the base with a knife produced in her hand with magic. It was the final insult, stripping him of the manhood he never truly had.

She placed the castrated cock between his lips, leaving it there entirely exposed. She would never miss that rubbish appendage. With a final glance over his dead corpse, Cora pulled out the bloody cape and stuck it in his hand for safe keeping. He would be found with it in the morning, someone would confirm it belonged to Regina, and conclusions would be drawn. Satisfied with her plan, Cora turned around and surrounded herself with purple smoke that took her back to her quarters where she slept peacefully the whole night through.

Now, the next morning, she was forced to cover herself in black and make her way out from her chambers like the perfect grieving widow. Surely by now the King and his daughter were well aware of the "tragic" circumstances, and it would only be a matter of time before the final steps of her plan could be put into action.

"Cora, I've been searching for you. I wish to offer you my most sincere condolences, truly. I know that when my beloved Eva died, there was much pain in my heart, and I could never imagine my little Snow going…" the King trailed off, overcome with tears of his own.

"Shh," Cora whispered, covering his hand with her own. He had moved close to comfort her, only making this so much easier to do. "You don't need to go on, Your Majesty. I understand the sentiment." Cora looked up, meeting his eyes with her own tear-filled ones. She only allowed them to fall once she had his full attention.

"If there is anything you need, anything at all, you shall ask. After all, we were about to become family. Tragedy shouldn't change that," he spoke kindly.

"Yes, well, it appears I'm now at a loss. I'm completely on my own." Cora cued a well placed sob, all but forcing the King to place an arm around her. She knew he was hesitating for the sake of propriety, but a man who claimed to be so kind-hearted would never be able to resist comforting a distraught woman.

"Will you be able to manage?"

"I- I don't know what I'll do without them. I fear there is nothing left for me in this world, now."

Cora waited silently, and surely enough, he took the bait right out of the water.

"Don't say that. You are a beautiful, vibrant woman."

She sniffled, dabbing at a nonexistent tear with the corner of her handkerchief. "I was a mother. There is nothing else my heart knows how to be. I fear without my Regina, I will be nothing." Even as the words left her lips, Cora wanted to cringe. Love? Fear? Those were just the silly side effects of having a heart so weak. She barely recalled what the sensations were even like.

"Then you shall come with me," he stated firmly, clasping both his hands firmly around Cora's.

"What do you mean?"

"My daughter still needs a mother, Cora. It is unfortunate what has become of Regina, but that doesn't change the fact that Snow is a growing girl with many questions. She needs a proper woman to look to."

"And you want that to be me?" If she sounded incredulous, it's because she was. Cora wanted to laugh in his face, knowing all the things she had in mind for his precious little Snow White.

"Would you be up for it? I know this is all so sudden, but as you've said, there is nothing for you here."

"I don't know…" Cora looked down, frowning sadly. She was so close to having him right where she needed him to be. "Would it not look completely scandalous for me to be living there on my own? I won't be looked upon as a concubine, Your Majesty, and I'm certainly not about to take on the title of a nurse." She felt mildly disgusted at the thought.

He seemed to hesitate for a moment, opening and closing his mouth several times in thought before finally answering. The King got down on one knee, as he had only days before to a much younger carbon copy of the same woman, and began to recite his proposal.

"Then, Cora, would you do me the honor of becoming my Queen?"

"Oh, Your Majesty…" …  _I already have you eating out of the palm of my hand._

"I understand if this feels too soon and you want to say no, of course. I would never force you to forget your husband so soon, and I wouldn't even ask if we didn't need to be leaving within the week. As king, it is my duty to protect my people, and leaving a widow to look after such a large estate on her own would be dishonorable of me."

She smiled, allowing some of the constant tears to dissipate. "I would be honored, Your Majesty." Cora bowed in a show of respect, longing for the throne she was now so close to she could practically taste.

"Excellent. Snow will be thrilled to hear of it. Snow!" he called. Only a moment later, the small girl bounced her way into the room, respectfully wearing black like the rest of the household. Leopold looked down at the girl before bending to be at her level.

"Snow, my dear, I have a surprise for you. Cora is going to be your new mother."

"You are?" Snow asked curiously, looking up to Cora for confirmation.

"That I am, dear Snow," Cora spoke happily. She didn't want to seem overly enthusiastic— her family did just parish after all— but Cora couldn't do much to hide that tiny bit of glee threatening to burst out with her success. "Are you all right with that?"

"Oh, yes, very much so!" Snow smiled at her before running up and engulfing her in a hug. The urge to push the clingy child away had to be pushed aside for the greater good of the plan. "I know you must be sad, but don't worry. You can be a part of our family now. I'm sure you'll be a wonderful mother, Cora."

The syrupy sweetness of it all was positively sickening, but for the moment she decided to play along. Snow would trust her, look up to her, and when they least expected it, Cora would crush her and ruin the girl forever, just as she had desired to do to her mother.

Snow would be her favorite to inflict destruction upon.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Still working on owning Regina but it hasn't happened yet.
> 
> TWs: This chapter is actually fairly light on them in comparison but there are moments where abuse is apparent.
> 
> Author's Note: Hello my lovelies! I went from vacation and right back to a new semester of classes so sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter with lots of cute young Henry to make up for it. *sing-song* Swan Queen is getting clooooser. *evil laugh* but not before I rip your hearts to shreds.

_Present: Storybrooke_

Henry looked down at his new puppy Elsie, a small black ball of fluff, and smiled as she wagged her tail up at him in excitement.

"Good girl, Elsie." He smiled before reaching down to pet the little pup. Elsie was the newest addition to the Swan Family after his mom rescued her during her first day on duty. She was found abandoned in an alley and the local shelter was already full, so Emma got Granny to agree to let them have the pup at the inn for the next two days. If they could find a place to move into by then, they could keep the dog, provided she didn't destroy anything in the meantime.

Henry was already growing fond of the older woman, having never had a grandmother-like figure in his life before. The change was nice.

Emma hadn't just handed over the pup, of course. She'd made Henry agree to a list of responsibilities he would need to perform in order to take care of her. None of them seemed too difficult, though, and Henry knew the puppy was more a pity gift than anything— not that he ever planned on telling Emma that. If she wanted to think he wouldn't notice, he'd let her.

One of those responsibilities was to walk Elsie every single day, because apparently even little dogs need a lot of exercise. Storybrooke Elementary School was only in session for a few days before the first weekend hit, so now Henry had two whole days to spend before he'd have to go back to his new Kindergarten class. He wasn't sure how he felt about it yet. The kids weren't mean to him or anything, but they acted like he was some sort of strange novelty, as apparently nobody new ever came to Storybrooke.

After feeling like all the kids were more interested in staring at him than in befriending him for the past few days, Henry had been looking forward to spending the weekend with Emma. Unfortunately, his mom was called in on a Saturday morning emergency, so he was left to the watchful eyes of that pretty waitress lady.

The lunch crowd had made it all too easy to slip away, though, and Henry didn't care to ask before heading out to take his new puppy on her daily walk. His only thoughts were on Emma's strict warnings about making sure she got out several times a day, and he decided it was time to check the walking portion of that off his list. She would surely be so proud of him for being responsible and taking care of Elsie so well, maybe she'd even treat him to a movie night.

"Where should we go, girl?" Henry was pretty sure he saw a park nearby the other day with Emma. If only he could remember which way it was…

_Thud._

Henry hit the ground, tripping over his own untied shoelace. He felt the tears welling up but reigned them in, sniffling lightly. He was a big boy now, he remembered, and big boys are supposed to get back up, tie their laces, and keep on going. With that thought in mind, Henry set the end of the leash down by his side and set to work fixing the knot.

He bit his bottom lip in concentration, looking down at the laces as he repeated the steps in his head. First tie the strings to give the bunny a head. Okay, check. Next, give the bunny his big floppy ears. Double check. Finally, he had to hold the bunny ears in place by crossing them and looping one back through the hole and pull it tight. Check, again. With a satisfied sigh, little Henry determined that his laces were firmly secured.

"See, Elsie. That wasn't so hard." He giggled, looking up to where he expected his puppy to be. Only, there was no small black ball of fur sitting there, and a quick glance to his side told Henry that the leash was gone as well. "Elsie?"

A small bark brought Henry's attention up, and he saw Elsie making her way down the sidewalk a few yards ahead. She didn't look like she was planning to stop and wait for him, so Henry jumped up from his crouched down position and took off running after her. His mom would not be happy if she got back and found out he lost his new dog already.

"Elsie! Elsie, girl! Come back!"

Henry yelled after the small pup every few seconds, panting as he tried to catch up. She seemed intent on heading in one specific direction, and not even the squirrel that ran out in front of her was enough to distract the pup from her mission. After a while, Henry decided there was no stopping Elsie until she got where she needed to go, so he resigned himself to trailing along behind.

A few minutes later, Henry decided he didn't appreciate this game anymore. He needed to stop and catch his breath, but that might mean losing sight of Elsie, and he couldn't risk letting that happen. He wasn't sure where he was anymore, taking in the bigger houses on this street of Storybrooke that were unfamiliar. Elsie was heading towards the biggest house Henry had ever seen— one with tall white pillars and bushes all around— when she turned and started heading through the grass towards the back yard.

"Elsieeeee," he whined. Henry figured this would be an appropriate time to mutter one of those words his mom always shouted when she got upset before she lectured him for half an hour on how he shouldn't repeat them, but he refrained as Elsie darted through a particularly tall hedge.

Henry stopped at the bush and hesitated. On the one hand, he figured Mom wouldn't like him entering a stranger's back yard without permission. But he couldn't see Elsie any longer, and she probably wouldn't like that either.

Making his mind up, Henry bravely pushed his way into the hedge, shoving a few stray branches aside to create a big enough gap to wiggle his tiny body through. He couldn't see Elsie, but there was a sweet sounding voice off to the side, and he was pretty sure he heard a familiar high-pitched bark accompanying it.

Eager to get his puppy back, Henry pushed the rest of the way through and stumbled into the yard. The giggling sound to his right immediately ceased and was replaced by a shocked gasp. He pivoted, taking in the view of Elsie still bouncing happily as if she hadn't just taken him on a much-too-long adventure and gotten them lost. Only, Elsie wasn't just by herself, but rather in the lap of a woman, who was gaping at him like a floundering fish.

She looked to be a bit older than his mother, Henry thought, but he couldn't be too sure. She also was quite small and frail, curled up on a bench with a blanket despite the warm weather, which was just weird. Of what Henry could see, her skin was quite pale, but in a more olive way that still left her darker than him, despite the sickly tones. Her eyes were dark shades and sunken. There was a deep purple bruise across her cheek, and Henry wondered if maybe she fell down a lot like he did.

She finally stopped staring at him, only to cough roughly into her hand, and the woman just looked so sad that Henry couldn't resist moving closer to see if she was okay. If Elsie decided she was a friend, then Henry would like to think so as well.

"Hi, I'm Henry Swan. Who are you?" He held out his hand and watched as she looked down at it nervously, still coughing. He considered pulling his hand back, but Henry was taught to be polite, so he kept it out and waited patiently with a smile.

The way she kept watching his hand so carefully was strange to Henry. She acted like it might somehow harm her and skittishly held on closer to Elsie. Curious as to the woman's decidedly weird behavior, Henry opted to take the next step. He shrugged and put his arm back down, instead plopping down into the grass in front of her.

"So," Henry tried again since she had yet to answer him, "thank you for finding my dog. I accidentally forgot to hold onto her leash when I fixed my shoelace after I fell down."

She still remained silent, but he noticed her eyes looking down at his knee. Henry noticed for the first time that he had torn his jeans and scrapped his knee a bit, and there was a little blood seeping through around the edges. It was nothing major, and he'd done worse before, but the sight of it did remind him of how much it stung.

"Oh, you see my scrape? I must have skinned it when I tripped."

With one hand still firmly clasped around little Elsie, the woman stood up and limped her way over to him. She shook even as she crouched down, but her eyes met his carefully. He felt like he was looking into a dark void, almost frightened by the intensity, yet it also made him feel an immense and inexplicable need to protect her from something.

Henry noticed that she seemed afraid of something, and her eyes kept darting back to the house before they latched onto his knee again. She reached down for his injury, and Henry held his breath, unsure what she was planning to do to him. He knew he wasn't supposed to trust or talk to strangers, and that his Mom would have wanted him to run by now, but there was something about her he just couldn't leave.

Her fingers touched the edge of his knee, drawing it in closer to take a better look at the scrape. "Does it hurt?" she whispered, and it was so quiet Henry almost didn't pick up on the words. He did, though, and it was shocking to finally hear her deep raspy voice.

"No, it's all right. Just a little scrape, I promise." Truthfully, Henry was in a bit of pain from it, but he wasn't about to come off as a wimp to his new friend. The words seemed to put her at ease, and she relaxed next to him before taking a reluctant seat on the grass.

Elsie seemed to finally spot him and immediately starting yipping and wriggling in the woman's arms until she was released and able to bound into Henry's lap with a happy lick to his chin. "Down, girl," Henry said with a laugh, petting the pup behind the ears.

"What's her name?" the woman asked, this time raising her voice to an almost normal level.

"Elsie. I just got her yesterday when my mom rescued her from an alley. She's the new Deputy for the Sheriff's department, and we just moved here."

"She's very sweet," she said with a smile. Henry decided he liked seeing that look on her face, but it was unfortunately gone as soon as her gaze flickered back to the house.

"She likes you," he stated matter-of-factly.

"I like her, too."

"You hear that, Elsie," Henry said to the pup, "our new friend likes you, too." Elsie seemed equally excited by this news, if her bouncing in his lap was any indication.

The woman began her terrible coughing again, turning slightly to the side, but Henry could still see how it made her eyes water. He thought it sounded rather painful and wished his mom was around to soothe her the way she always soothed him when he got sick.

"Are you sick?" he asked. The woman seemed startled by the question and pulled back into herself. She shook her head vehemently, coughing roughly even as she did. Henry was tempted to argue her on this, but thought better of it when he realized she didn't seem to like the question. Maybe she was like his mom and just really stubborn about admitting any sort of weakness. He decided to try a different approach instead.

"What's your name?"

She watched him carefully for a moment and looked back at the house. He wasn't sure what she was looking for, but apparently she didn't find it when she turned back and told him, "Regina."

"That's a pretty name. There was a girl in my old preschool named Regina, but she liked to eat paste. You don't do that, do you?"

"No." She looked confused.

"Okay, then we can be friends, Regina." He decided he really liked the way she smiled this time. Determining that if they were friends, she could no longer be considered a stranger, Henry scooted closer across the grass.

"I've never had a friend," she admitted. Henry had a hard time believing this. She was still mostly covered with a blanket, but he was pretty sure she was quite beautiful, even if she was really shy. Henry knew he liked her, so surely other people had to.

"Never?"

Regina shook her head no.

"I bet my mom would like you. Then she could be your friend too, and you can have two friends."

Again, Regina seemed to flinch, but he paid no attention to it.

"She is super nice, and sometimes she tries to sound strict, but I know she'll still let me get away with pretty much anything I want. And she's also really smart, but most people don't think she will be. I don't know why. I think it's 'cause she doesn't want people to know how much she reads and stuff. If they underestimate her then she can surprise them."

"She sounds lovely," Regina said.

"Mhmm. What about you. Do you live with anyone?"

Regina's mouth floundered for an answer, eyes doing that thing again where they kept darting between him and the house. Before she could give him an answer, however, Henry heard his name being shouted in the near distance.

"Oops, that's my Mom. I was supposed to stay with Ruby, but I thought I would be back a lot faster," he admitted sheepishly. "It was really nice meeting you, Regina! Will you be here tomorrow? I'll try to come back then."

"I… I think I would like that, Henry."

"Good! Bye, Regina!"

Without warning, Henry sprung at Regina and wrapped his little arms around her chest. He didn't notice the way she tensed up, only hugged her tightly before releasing her to pick up Elsie's leash and running off back through the hedges.

"Bye, Henry."

* * *

_Present: Storybrooke_

Emma was trying really hard not to panic, but as she rounded the corner of yet another street of houses, she was pretty sure Ruby would not be getting very nice tips for the rest of the week. She understood that Henry was a handful and it was easy for his tiny figure to slip away at the most inconvenient moments, but when she left him with others she did expect that he would still be there when she returned.

Today, that was not the case.

The "emergency" Graham called her in for was that a cat was up a tree and he needed someone more agile to climb up and retrieve it. She found that it was more an excuse for company than anything, but agreed to stick around for a few hours until lunch time. It was her day off, after all.

Of course, Emma hadn't expected that staying away so long would mean her son thought it was okay to just take off. The puppy and leash were gone, she noticed, which meant that Emma would probably have to reassess her lecture on dog care. Of course he didn't want to be irresponsible and had probably thought walking little Elsie was a good idea, but the kid was only five and in an unfamiliar town.

Emma was definitely about to panic.

"Don't worry, Emma. Storybrooke is a very safe town, and it's not that big. I'm sure we'll find him perfectly fine in no time."

The giver of the reassurances, which was only the most recent in a slew of many that were not very effectively keeping Emma calm, was a woman named Mary Margaret. She had been in Granny's at the time and overheard Emma freaking out on Ruby, who at least looked like she felt really bad about losing the kid. Mary Margaret, as it turned out, was a teacher for some of the older kids at Henry's school, and she was familiar with him and what he looked like. Happy to have another set of eyes, Emma accepted the woman's offer to come along before rushing out the door to begin her search.

In another part of town, the Sheriff was also searching, and between the three of them they planned to cover as much ground as possible.

"Henry!" Emma yelled at the top of her lungs, turning onto a street called Mifflin that was lined on both sides by the larger houses of Storybrooke.

"Finding him isn't what I'm worried about. I'm more concerned with what trouble a five year old and a puppy can get into on their own for an hour," Emma admitted. And there was still an underlying fear that the men out to get her might turn up in Storybrooke and take him, but that she didn't voice. They only wanted her gone, and this town was far enough away to appease them and let them be. She wouldn't be worth the search to those men, Emma knew, but the dear was still there.

"Henry!"

"Emma, that's the mayor's house. I doubt he'd be around here," Mary Margaret said. Emma noticed she looked uneasy even standing on the sidewalk out front, and she couldn't say she exactly blamed the meek teacher if her first meeting with the dragon lady was anything to go by.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe we should go check the park? I think I saw him eying it up yesterday, and when the kid sets his sight on something, he tends to go for it." Emma sighed, taking one final glance around before turning to head in a new direction.

She was only about five steps away, however, when a high pitched barking sound from behind caught her attention. Emma couldn't be sure, but she was fairly certain that sound belonged to…

"Elsie!"

Sure enough, the bark sounded again, and Henry soon followed the small ball of fluff out from behind the Mayor's mansion with a wide smile across is unharmed face.

"Henry Milford Swan, get your  _ass_  over here!" Emma yelled. She was more relieved to have found him than anything, but that didn't mean she was about to let him know that. Then the kid would get the idea that such behavior was okay, which it definitely wasn't. Emma was pretty sure she'd had about 5 years just scared right out of her life.

"Hi, Mom. What's up?" he asked, stopping in front of her with a sheepish smile on his face.

She knelt down and wrapped her arms tightly around him, holding the small boy close. "Kid, do you have any idea how terrified I was? You can't just run off like that, especially when we don't know this place very well yet. I had no idea where to even look."

Emma pulled back to look at him, checking him over for any signs of injury and stopping at his knee. "What happened here?" she asked a little more gently. Emma had to calm herself down and remember that Henry was just a kid, as she didn't intend to scare him to death too.

"I tripped. It's okay, it doesn't hurt. I just had to fix my shoelace, but then Elsie ran away and I followed her here," Henry explained.

Emma sighed, pulling him into another tight hug. "I'm just glad you're okay," she sighed. "Did you leave because you thought you had to walk Elsie?"

He looked down sheepishly after wriggling out of her death-grip hug. "Yes. I didn't want to be a bad pet owner. I'm sorry, Mommy." Oh, damn. He brought out the pout. She was never able to resist the pout.

"It's okay. You're okay so it's okay. But seriously, next time you think you need to go somewhere, find an adult to take you. I know I wasn't there and I'm really sorry, but Ruby didn't even know where you went. You're five, kid, and you really scared me."

"I know. I didn't mean to. I was gonna go right back but then…"

"Then you lost Elsie, I know. I'm glad you found her. Although, maybe next time the Mayor's back yard isn't the best place to go, huh?" Emma smirked, bringing a smile back to his guilty face.

"That's the mayor's house?" he asked.

"Well yeah, who else could afford to live somewhere so big?" Emma snorted, lifting her boy into her arms and wrapping the dog's leash around her wrist so she couldn't get away again. They started walking back towards Granny's, Mary Margaret trailing behind.

"I don't know." He looked off in thought, and she was about to question it when Mary Margaret piped up and reminded Emma that she was still walking with them.

"Emma, where are you guys staying?" she asked conversationally.

"We live at Granny's," Henry blurted out before Emma could explain their situation.

"Granny's?" she exclaimed, clearly put off by the idea of the family just living in a small little inn.

"We're still looking for an apartment. The move was a little unexpected," Emma explained.

"Well, you're not likely to find any place reasonable. Mr. Gold owns almost every place in town, and he charges a fortune to new renters."

"Great," Emma mumbled, groaning. That was definitely the last thing she needed to hear today.

"But, if you're interested, I am looking for a roommate," she offered sweetly.

Emma chuckled. "That's nice of you, but I think we constitute a bit more than a roommate. I couldn't ask you to take in me, my kid, and this little fluff ball."

"No, really," Mary Margaret persisted. "I have a spare room with more than enough room for two beds, and Elsie is more than welcome to stay. Please, at least until you find somewhere else? It's better than living at Granny's, and you'd be helping me out by paying half the rent."

Emma paused, thinking on it for a moment before looking to her son. "What do you think, Henry? Should we take up Miss Blanchard's offer?"

The little boy put a dramatic finger to his chin, looking back at the teacher with a skeptical eye before moving closer and whispering into Emma's ear that he agreed they should definitely do that because she seems "nice enough."

"Then it's settled," Emma declared, smiling down at her son. "If you'll have us, we'd love to."

"Great! Do you want to come by tonight, then? I can help you move your stuff."

"So soon? Well, most of our things are still in my bug, sans a few suitcases. I don't see why not. If you're really sure?"

"I am," Mary Margaret said. They walked along for a bit longer before Henry piped up in her arms again. He was getting a little too heavy to be held for so long, but Emma was still too shaken up to let go just yet. "Who does the Mayor live with?"

Unsure of the answer, or why her son was asking, Emma looked to Mary Margaret. The teacher, for her part, only looked confused by the question. "She doesn't live with anyone, Henry. Mayor Mills tends to stick to herself."

"I can't imagine why," Emma grumbled. "Why did you think she lived with someone, Henry?"

He pouted, and she knew an argument was coming. "But Regina lives there. She was in the back yard and caught Elsie for me. She's kinda shy, but then I said we could be friends and that you would probably be her friend too and that made her happy," Henry explained.

"Well, maybe she's a neighbor or something, kid. Or the gardener? People like Mayor Mills probably have lots of people working for her." Emma didn't understand Henry's fascination with this Regina person, but from the look on his face, her answer was unsatisfactory.

"Actually, I'm not aware of  _anyone_  in Storybrooke named Regina. Are you sure you heard correctly, Henry?" Mary Margaret asked. Emma groaned at the "told you so" look on Henry's face. The kid lived for finding mysteries he could solve, and it appeared that he'd located his newest one.

"Positive," Henry said matter-of-factly. "She was really pretty, but didn't look happy and there was a big bruise on her face."

"A bruise, huh?" Emma had to admit that she did feel a bit concerned by that. What kind of people was her son hanging around, exactly?

"Mhmm, and she saw my knee and was really concerned about it. I like her, Mommy. She's nice. I tolded her I'd be back tomorrow."

"Oh, Henry, I don't know. I don't think you should be hanging around at the Mayor's place, kid. Besides, tomorrow I thought we would have a movie day, just the two of us. Or three, if Mary Margaret would like to join?" She looked over to her new roommate.

"I think that sounds lovely."

"Great, then it's settled."

Henry stayed silent in her arms but looked deeply concerned by this development.

Emma glanced back to the mansion. There was something unsettling about the place, and now Henry's claims of seeing a seemingly nonexistent person were starting to get to her. Storybrooke was supposed to be a nice little safe place for them, but already it felt as if something troublesome might be brewing.

She would definitely be keeping Henry away from that house, and maybe she'd ask the Sheriff on Monday if he knew anything about this mysterious woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so so what did you think? The next chapter will be filling in a lot more of the past in regards to Regina and Cora's relationship.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Heavy smut and dubcon incest ahead. IF THIS MAKES YOU UNCOMFORTABLE, I have provided a brief summary of any pertinent information at the end of the chapter that you may read so you do not get confused later on. Obviously I want you all to read this as I worked hard on it, but I understand if some people are not ready for that. This is all one scene, unlike the previous chapters.
> 
> A/N: Sorry guys, College is pretty much kicking my ass this semester, and I actually had to write this one since I skipped over it during NaNo. I've been trying to keep you all up to date over on tumblr (you can follow me at RizzoliOnIsles if you so desire) and as I said there, I will be posting the next chapter in 2-3 days to apologize for the wait. Happy reading!

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

The heartbeats filled the small room, illuminating every part of her chamber with a sporadic red glow that added warmth to the hidden space behind the hearth. Cora was satisfied with her work, finding solitude in every surface that encompassed the place. Her favorite part was, of course, the king sized bed with deep aubergine sheets of silk and countless furs thrown across the surface. Nestled tightly just between two walls full of hearts, the bed was the pride and center of the room and all it encompassed.

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

The room, located just behind the fireplace of her own bedroom chambers, was meant to be a vault of sorts. After moving her things into the castle when she returned with the King and his spoiled brat of a daughter, Cora had scoped out the perfect location to use in secret. It was all a part of her plans; a place was needed where she could use her magic away from prying eyes that might try and interfere.

She needed somewhere to store her most beloved possessions, the things she could not will herself to part with— Regina and her hearts.

Satisfied that arrangements were fully made and that escape or entrance without the use of her personal magic essence would be impossible, Cora grinned wickedly. The time had finally arrived to bring in the pièce de résistance.

First she pictured the image clearly in her mind of Regina sitting on the floor of her darkened cell. Cora clarified her thoughts to the point where she could almost reach out in front of her and touch the girl, and then it was just a matter of reeling her in. With her mind wide open and focused, Cora conjured the image of her daughter in that same position now sitting on the bed in front of her. Soon the air began to bend and shape, swirling with the smoke in a haze over the silk sheets.

"Hello, dear."

At once Regina look startled at having found herself splayed out across the soft bedding. She quickly covered her eyes, blinking rapidly into the light. Maybe Cora should have invested in some lights for her dungeon, because now all she saw was a daughter too weak to even see properly in the dim light of the heart chamber.

"Mother?" Regina spoke wearily.

"Do you like your new home, darling?" Cora gestured around, pointing out the tall wall of hearts and a few areas for Regina to lounge around on should she feel like relocating throughout the day, alone with a small bathing area behind a curtain on one wall. She was quite proud of her decorating. There were no windows in the hidden room, but Cora had still covered some of the walls with deep red curtains of the richest color.

Around were a few golden candlesticks should she need more light, but Cora was happy to rely on just her own magic illumination spell and the red glow of the hearts to provide a nice atmosphere to the room.

She wanted to hear Regina's opinion on the matter, because even if she was unworthy of such input, Cora wanted to hear praise for all her hard work that would otherwise go unacknowledged in the secret confines of her room. Looking over, she discovered that Regina was still hiding her eyes from sight behind a pair of dirty hands.

"Regina!" she yelled, anger bubbling in her chest at the sign of disobedience so quickly after her release. "How will you give me your opinion if you don't even look?"

"Sorry, Mother."

Reluctantly, the hands lowered from in front of Regina's fluttering eyelids. She still squinted, but at least now the girl was looking around from her spot still on the bed.

"It's beautiful, Mother. But where are we?" Regina asked in confusion.

"We're in our new home, Regina."

"We'll be living in a room of hearts?" Regina asked, the horror apparent in her tone.

Cora chucked at the confusion in her daughter's imbecilic voice. Of course she wouldn't be living in such a grungy place. She was about to be made Queen, for gods' sake. Even as the worthless and powerless miller's daughter she had once been, Cora never would have stood for such standards for herself when better accommodations were available.

"Of course not, girl. You will be living here, in secret. After all, I can't risk the chance of the King discovering his dead bride is still alive just before the wedding. Unless, of course, you still wish to be married to him?"

She knew from the widening of Regina's eyes that the thought of ever doing such a thing was beyond abhorrent. It almost made her want to force the issue a bit longer, just to see Regina suffer through the same endless pains of a marriage that she had once been tossed into, completely unprepared, but doing so would mean relinquishing her own chance at the crown and becoming a widow.

That just wouldn't do at all for Cora.

Instead, Regina could suffer out the rest of her punishment. She wanted to be cared for so she would get just that.

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

"Are we in the King's castle, then? This room must be well hidden for you to trust your collection to be stored here so openly," Regina remarked.

"This room was designed specifically to house  _all_  of my most prized possessions, Regina. I promise you it is well secure. No one is getting in."  _Or out._  The last part wasn't spoken, but she made sure that her look portrayed just that. Regina would surely spend at least the first few days stubbornly looking for a way out before conceding to Cora's will, and she wanted desperately to speed up the process. Dealing with a struggling girl would just add unnecessary annoyance to her days when this should have served as her reprieve.

Eventually she would break in her new pet, and good pets obey their owners. Cora recalled having a dog once as a child. She had loved the pup and wanted it to spend every moment at her side, even going so far as to allow her to sleep at the foot of the bed. And for a few days it had been all right until her father noticed. In one of his typical drunken states, the man had hoisted the pup off the bed and all but shoved it outside. He never hurt the animal, at least, but Cora had spent every night for the next week hearing the dog cry outside her window and beg to be let in.

She had almost shown weakness and cracked, but then it happened. The dog began to quit whining every night, and eventually she didn't even have to place the pup outside. She just wandered out because it was what Cora ordered her to do. She submitted. Cora was a little fuzzy on the specific details, but she was fairly certain that the dog had been briefly named Regina before she decided a name gave her too much power.

Regina would submit to her and obey every last command soon enough, just as the small dog had. For now, she could enjoy spending some time cracking her apart.

"And this bed is?"

"For you," Cora finished. "Aside from my hearts, of course, anything in here is of access to you. Your punishment for your behavior is finished, Regina. Don't make me regret my decision. I'm sure there are plenty of spare cells in the King's vast dungeons I could hide you away in. It might even take them a few months to happen upon you down there, should you be so lucky."

"No, Mother. I'd rather stay here." Regina's voice sounded so small as she shrunk back into the bed.

"Then you will do as I say," Cora said sharply.

"Yes, Mother."

"Good girl, Regina," Cora purred. She began to stalk towards the bed, intent on having her way with the girl now that all the unpleasantness had been taken care of. "There's just one more thing."

"What is it?" Regina asked.

"Well, my love, Mother doesn't want to have to punish you, but you have been a bad girl and that made it hard for Mother to trust that you've truly learned from what you did by trying to run off with that stable boy. I didn't want to keep you in that filthy place any longer, dear, but that still leaves us with an issue. Do you know how you can gain Mother's trust back?"

When the younger woman merely shook her head no, Cora frowned, showing her disappointment that Regina would need to be told.

"You see, Regina, trust takes time to build. You'll have to work from the bottom up, so to speak, for Mother to allow you back into her good graces, and you want to make Mother happy, right?" Cora asked softly, reaching a hand out to place on Regina's thigh through her dress.

"Of course I do, just tell me how," Regina practically begged.

The smirk stretched quickly across Cora's face as she leaned in closer, her voice straining down to only a whisper as she was close enough for Regina to hear her clearly. "I've found that trust is a very intimate sensation, my love. So the best way to attain mine once more," Cora husked as she leaned closer, her lips only a breath away from Regina's, "is for you to show me that you want it, that you're willing to do whatever it takes to please me. Can you do that, Regina?"

She could see and hear the way Regina gulped, her eyes reflecting both fear and arousal in a way that made Cora's own wetness warm the area between her legs. Slowly, she closed the distance, pushing her lips against Regina's at the exact moment a breathy "yes" was murmured, effectively cutting off anything else Regina may have desired to say.

Cora kissed her slowly yet firmly, taking full control of the younger woman who easily slipped right into Cora's tight grip. She pulled herself closer on the bed, only slightly put off by the chapped texture to Regina's lips from having spent so much time in the cold dungeon. Cora broke the kiss only long enough to whisper a spell that quickly rejuvenated them, leaving the lips lush and awaiting Cora's predatory movements. Regina took the time to suck in a deep breath, but before she could so much as try to speak in protest to what was happening, Cora was back on her, pushing her lips against the younger woman's now quite prepared mouth and sliding them over the smooth skin. They tasted rich, like her magic, and it made her moan in appreciation.

Kissing Regina like this, and more, was not a new occurrence for either of them. Several times she had lured Regina into her bed at night and stolen kisses that made the younger woman squirm, sometimes even going so far as to touch her. Cora could physically feel the shift in the air as Regina began to try and push away, lips stilling their slightly reciprocated movements while Cora moved only to deepen them further.

There was something undeniably satisfactory about holding Regina in her clutches and kissing her, knowing that she was marking her as a possession and showing Regina just how much she owned her every breath. Cora controlled it all, every single movement from her lungs to her lips, and she certainly knew how to keep a tight leash. But more than that, Cora could never deny herself the heavy burden she felt in the form of a warm coiling beneath her stomach, where her arousal pooled every time Regina submitted to her touch.

Her daughter was beautiful, and as she grew into her curves, Cora often found herself unable to resist. She reminded her of herself, in a way, and there were just too many lessons Cora wished she would have learned sooner to possibly hold off from teaching them to Regina on her own. Regina invaded her mind, her every whim, and sometimes Cora would pull her into an especially hard kiss just to bring about those sensations that she craved so deeply throughout the day when they were apart. As the kiss continued, Cora swiped her tongue out and across Regina's tightly clenched lips, indicating that she expected to be allowed entrance. Resistance was futile, though, and soon Cora had moved past the barrier and was able to taste the sweetness that Regina exuded. Her hands, at the same time, began to move from their holding spots on Regina's shoulders and down her sides, stopping atop firm breasts that were already straining against the tight fabric of Regina's tattered dress.

"No," Regina murmured into her mouth, the sounds getting lost in Cora's pleasure. She tried to ignore Regina's resistance, to pretend the younger woman was just as willing and eager as her body's response said she was, but there was no use when Regina forced her lips back away.

"Mother, no, what are you doing?"

Cora pouted and reached up a hand to cup Regina's cheek. "I thought you said you wanted to show Mother that she should trust you?"

"I-I do."

"Then be a good girl, my love, and prove that you truly do love me."

Cora could see the conflict written across Regina's face; the unspoken questions so clearly on the tip of her tongue that Regina knew she would never be permitted to speak remained only thoughts, but Cora could imagine they had to do with the fact that she was her mother.

She probably should care, really, but it only made her want Regina to please her more. That would be the ultimate sign that her pet was broken and would heed to her at all times.

Regina shook in her grasp, eyes darting down to Cora's lips and back up to her eyes. The last effort of pleading her way out of this was apparent, but Cora wasn't having any of it. Regina would show herself worthy. There was no alternative, only submission.

Finally, the younger woman leaned forward and captured Cora's lips with her own, searing them together with a soft kiss that grew with Cora's impatience. She could taste the salty tears as they reached the frenzied lips but gave it no thought. Regina's tears were simply a common factor in their moments, having lost any meaning long ago.

Her fingers made quick work of Regina's dress, finding the ribbons in the back and untying them with the same skill she'd developed from doing her own over the years. The audible gasp Regina emitted upon being released from the tight confines of the corset styled top reverberated off the walls and mixed in with all the constant heartbeats.

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

Cora's fingers ran over the smooth skin of Regina's back, pulling the fabric apart to give her better access. It was only after she got that far that Cora finally allowed Regina to pull back from the kiss, sniffling back her tears, so Cora could finish the job and get a better look at her.

"Stand up so Mother can see how beautiful you are, my love."

Regina complied, slowly moving from the bed and turning to face away from Cora. Long fingers that were perfectly aged moved along the seam where the untied ribbons had parted and yanked, pulling the fabric loose enough so that it would fall to the ground. Silk, ribbon, and layers of fabric pooled around Regina's feet, leaving her in nothing more than her undergarments, which Cora was quick to magic away, making Regina completely exposed and facing away.

"Now, dear, turn around so I can really see you," Cora said as she tugged on Regina's arm to get the nervous girl to move. "Don't be shy, my love, it's nothing I haven't seen before."

Slowly— almost painfully so— Regina turned in her spot surrounded by the dress and faced Cora, one arm bent and squished up against her chest, the other stretched down to cover her lower extremities.

With a tsk, Cora ran her fingers along the tanned skin of Regina's arm and wrapped around her wrist at the end, forcefully pulling the arm away and revealing the perfectly rounded breasts it had failed to fully cover. Cora took a moment just to appreciate her, noting the almost plum coloring of Regina's nipples that were beginning to peak just for her, leaving hard little buds that looked so deliciously tempting in their surrounding cradles. The hand still holding Regina's wrist released it and moved up to trail along the rounded edges, watching how it made Regina positively shiver with pleasure.

With her other hand, Cora moved Regina's only remaining cover, and her eyes took their careful appraisal of the goods down to where a soft patch of dark curls remained. Smiling, Cora looked back to Regina's eyes, which were carefully trained on her and watching in silence.

"You are breathtaking, my love," Cora husked. She took great pride in the body she'd created in her own, memorizing each curve and line, every freckle that dotted the rich skin. There were some she hadn't seen before, and other areas of Regina were more filled out, like she was more of a woman than the last time Cora had stripped her down bare.

She took her time, pulling Regina in almost flush against her where her own legs parted as she remained sitting on the bed, and Cora placed a single open-mouthed kiss right along Regina's collar bone. Seeing how it made Regina react, she continued with her kisses, leaving a wet trail down Regina's chest and onto her breasts. Cora moved her hands to Regina's hips and found purchase as she dug her nails in— not enough to leave a damaging mark but enough to keep her from trying to slip away.

Her mouth closed over one of the plump breasts, taking Regina's ready nipple between her lips and sucking, much like the younger woman had done to her many times before. Regina moaned in pleasure, despite her desperate jumbled pleas for it all to stop, and she felt the younger woman's back arch enough to push her breast more firmly into Cora's waiting lips. Cora pulled back with a calculated pop and husked, "Do you like that, Regina?"

Regina eagerly nodded her head, whimpering almost pathetically for Cora to continue. "When you were a baby you would suckle me for hours, so greedy, and sometimes you'd even get impatient and bite down." Cora's warm mouth moved over to the so far unattended breast and, true to her word, took the sensitive flesh between her teeth and bit down lightly.

Regina yelped but showed no sign of pulling away.

With a wicked grin, Cora placed a soft kiss on the aching flesh before tearing her attention lower, continuing the trail to size up the rest of Regina's body until she reached her target. With an almost sadistic sense of pleasure, Cora removed one of her hands from Regina's hip and brought it down to the space between her legs, just below where her face was in her hunched over posture.

"My my, dear, you certainly are wet for Mommy, aren't you?" Cora purred, bolts of her own pleasure shooting through her at the way Regina's body responded so readily to her touch. She moved her finger through the silky wetness that coated Regina's folds, but as soon as Regina moaned above her, she removed her hand and brought the coated fingers to her lips. She put them both inside, tasting the sweetness that lingered for a moment before getting back to the matter at hand.

"Please," Regina whimpered, all but thrusting her hips forward for Cora to continue.

"Not so fast, Regina. I can see how much you want me, but you still haven't proven your love for me." Cora stood, pushing Regina's confused form back a few steps and turning to face the other way in front of her. "Now, help Mommy out of her dress and be a good girl."

Shaking fingers slowly began to undo the buttons that held her in, but Cora grew impatient after one too many fumbles led to her only being needlessly tugged about. With a groan of indignation, Cora flicked her hand and removed her own clothes in one fluid motion and a cloud of smoke.

She turned around and surged forward, pressing their lips together in the same moment that their naked bodies connected. Her own breast felt the cold remnants of her saliva that still resided on Regina's pert nipples as they pushed against each other.

Cora could tell Regina was desperately in need of a release, but the girl could only be permitted one when she was ready to allow it. Regina needed to learn that this wasn't just about pleasure— this was all about control. This was her own personal test to see just how willing Regina was to commit herself to her. Regina had to know who she belonged to and prove that she was worthy of being under such ownership.

"What do you want me to do, Mother?" Regina asked, just above a whisper as she locked her eyes onto Cora's.

Cora could barely stand the wait any longer, having been ready from the moment her eyes set sight on Regina's ample breasts just heaving freely in front of her eyes.

"I want your lips… to taste me and… and make me come onto your mouth."

"Yes, Mother."

As soon as the words were spoken, Cora pulled Regina back towards the bed with her, hoisting the younger woman on top so that she was positioned just between her legs. Though she remained below, Cora's head was resting much further up the mattress from where Regina resided, slowly looking down at Cora's wet folds.

Seeing the slight hesitation, Cora spoke up before Regina could change her mind.

"Just remember, my love, this will gain my trust back in you. This is how you can show me you are truly committed as  _mine_."

The words apparently knocked any remaining hesitation right out of Regina, as she quickly bent so that her hot breath was adding further warmth to the space between Cora's legs, and soon her mouth joined in and with every motion, the fire continued to build until it was burning so strongly that Cora knew she could barely take another second of it. She jerked and spasmed, pushing her hips down against Regina's tongue and making sure she knew when to add more or less pressure against her clit.

She was positively burning alive from the inside out, like a can of explosives getting ready to ignite completely and destroy everything in its path.

"Faster," Cora husked, reaching down and clasping her fingers roughly into Regina's hair to pull her almost impossibly closer. She was so close, rocking steadily in time with each audible lap of Regina's tongue.

Finally unable to wait any longer, realizing that Regina was behaving as the perfect little pet with every command executed exactly in par with the request, Cora allowed the fire to blaze through her and explode, her vision taken over by blinding lights while she rode out the remaining sparks of her orgasm, spasming right onto Regina's waiting mouth.

Cora closed her eyes for a moment to catch her breath when Regina's tongue finally stopped lapping her up, the feeling of her orgasm still buzzing through every nerve.

"Come here, Regina," she croaked, not bothering to move as Regina slid up beside her. Cora kissed her waiting swollen lips, softly this time, and tasted her own unique flavor mixed with Regina's.

She felt the girl squirming uncomfortably in the space next to her on the bed and realized that Regina was still waiting for her to hopefully return the favor.

Cora chuckled at the foolishness. "Not tonight, dear. It's late." And pleasing Regina would only undo the control she had just managed to establish. Regina could only come when she said so, and waiting another night would only make her more desperate for the touch.

"Of course," Regina said with a sigh, snuggling down into Cora's side on the bed. She thought about protesting the comfort but without her clothing on, Cora was beginning to feel a draft, so she permitted the contact.

"Who do you belong to, Regina?"

"You, Mother."

"And no on else?"

"Just you, Mommy. I'm yours entirely," Regina mumbled, clearly on the brink of sleep.

"That's right, my love."

And with that, Cora began to fade off to sleep herself, lulled by the warmth of Regina and the steady beating of her hearts.

_Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> In summary, for those of you who opted to skip over my Black Queen smut: Cora is at Leopold's castle and has Regina living in her heart vault as one of her possessions. She can't leave but has decent accommodations, as her punishment is technically "over." Cora convinces Regina the only way she can gain her trust back after betraying her by trying to run off with Daniel is through sex, so that happens, and Cora is satisfied that Regina is under her control and knows she is hers.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mentions of abuse/sexual abuse.
> 
> A/N: Look at me keeping my promise and not only giving you guys a super speedy update, but a super long one! Hopefully this makes up for how much I emotionally scarred some of you with the last chapter. Your reviews had my laughing so hard! I take it you guys don't love my precious baby Cora? Happy Reading!

_Storybrooke: Present_

Emma took a large gulp of coffee, barely flinching as it scalded her throat on the way down.

"Woah, I literally just brewed that. Slow down there, tiger. I promise, no one here is planning to steal the deputy's coffee," Ruby said with a laugh, eyeing Emma up from across the counter as she wiped down the space a short pharmacist had just vacated.

Emma only grunted in response and lifted the burning hot beverage back up to her lips, taking another lengthy drink from the ceramic cup. She was, to put it lightly, completely exhausted. After finding her son and ensuring he was still in working condition and not traumatized for life, Emma had begun the process of moving her belongings into Mary Margaret's spare bedroom. Luckily she wasn't a big fan of clutter, so it hadn't taken too long to do so. Still, she had experienced a very draining day in what was supposed to be a nice stress-free small town, which led to when Emma stayed up half the night worried he might disappear again— the symptoms of being a mother.

Of course, she had eventually drifted off or passed out from exhaustion— Emma wasn't sure which it was and was past the point of caring— only to be awoken bright and early by Henry jumping up and down on her bed.

"Mama! Mama!" Emma had groaned in annoyance and tried to knock him away lightly with a pillow. It only seemed to fuel his actions further. "Mammmaaaaa. Wake uuuuup."

"What time is it?" she had groaned, looking over to the clock and seeing… 7 a.m.

Why the hell did the kid have to get up at 7 a.m. on a Sunday morning? Emma wasn't a religious person, but she figured that if she was she would have been cursing God and wondering what she had done to deserve such a fate.

As it turned out, the source of his early morning energy came in two parts. A moment later Emma began to smell pancakes and heard a cheery singing coming from the kitchen, which meant her roommate was awake and making breakfast. The kid never could resist his favorite sugary meal. She was pretty sure if he ever ended up in a coma or something he could be awoken with a plate of chocolate chip pancakes placed within his line of smell.

The other source was, surprisingly, the strange woman he apparently met the day before. Regina, he called her. Emma had hoped the excitement from moving would have distracted him enough to forget about the woman and his promise to visit her, but it seemed that was not the case at all. Henry had insisted, quite loudly, that he needed to visit Regina because he made a promise.

Seeing that she wasn't going to get any peace from the requests, Emma had left him at the table to enjoy his pancakes with the promise that she would at least look into it. She didn't just want her son gallivanting off with strangers in the backyards of scary dragon-lady mayors, after all. Especially when said mystery woman was completely unknown and thought to not even exist by people who had lived in Storybrooke much longer than them.

Now, Emma was at Granny's trying to drown herself in caffeine as quickly as possible. As it turned out, Mary Margaret never kept coffee in the house, saying it just causes bad dependency habits or some crap like that. Realizing that she'd never be in shape to function without it, not to mention the caffeine withdrawal headache Emma could already feel coming on, she'd gotten her roommate to happily agree to watch Henry while she went down the street to "feed her addiction" or whatever nonsense her new roommate had shouted while she stomped off.

"Not funny, Ruby. Mary Margaret has no coffee in her house. Why didn't you warn me?" Emma grumbled.

"Sorry, I forget you aren't from around here sometimes, so you wouldn't know things that are generally considered public knowledge. It's strange, Emma. I know you're new, but I feel like there's something so familiar about you. I just can't place my finger on it, exactly."

Emma was still too under-caffeinated to give much thought to Ruby's strange ramblings, and she was about to tell her as much when the bell over the door rang and the same eerie silence overtook the diner once again.

Seeing Mayor Mills walk in reminded Emma of her promise to Henry. She had hoped not to run into the woman for a while and that by then Henry would be onto some new mystery, but luck was once again not on her side today.

"Ahh, Deputy Swan. I see you're still here," Cora remarked coldly. She moved up to the counter and stood rigidly a few feet away. From the corner of her eye, Emma could make out the shape of Ruby rushing to prepare her coffee.

Emma rolled her eyes before composing her face enough to face the beastly woman. "And I see you're still extra-chipper in the morning, Madame Mayor."

Cora sniffed in response, shifting her gaze over and looking down at Emma like she was a bug about to be squashed by a big rolled up newspaper.

"Wasting away the dollars of taxpayers again I see," Cora said sharply.

"Ah, except it's Sunday and you don't allocate enough funds to the sheriff's department to pay a deputy on the weekends. Remember? You did send out that lovely email memo on the change last Friday."

There was a flash of a satisfied smirk across Cora's face for just a moment before she pulled the cold mask of indifference back on, but Emma saw it enough to know she was being played with and the game had only begun. That knowledge should have made her afraid of bothering the older woman and prying further into her life, but it only egged Emma on. Suddenly she was very curious about Henry's mystery woman, because Cora Mills potentially having a scandalous secret was just too good to resist.

"Indeed." Cora sighed and began tapping her foot impatiently for Ruby to hurry up, but apparently the coffee pot ran out and more needed to be brewed. Smirking, Emma took the opportunity for what it was and shifted in her seat to get a more comfortable view of the stoic mayor.

"It actually worked out great for me though," Emma began. "I get to spend the whole weekend at home with my son. I think we'll both enjoy that in the long run," she taunted, loving the way Cora's eyes began to narrow on her as she continued adding a positive light to what had clearly been meant as an attacking strike. Emma left out the part about how she probably needed to get a second job now, not wanting to allow any space for satisfaction.

"Yes, well, if you're so intent on spending time with the child, where is he, Miss Swan?"

Ah, the perfect lead into just where Emma wanted this conversation to go. Perhaps her karma was turning around after all. She could still back out, she knew, but Henry's persistent voice and worry in her head were enough to give her that final push. She already managed to get the mayor of the town to hate her existence without even trying. What did she have to lose?

"He's back at our apartment, as a matter of fact."

This finally got some sort of reaction from the older woman, who at least had the decency to look shocked at the not-so-subtle announcement.

"Oh, you've finally decided child rearing might be best done outside the confines of a single bedroom inn?" She tried to seem nonchalance at first, but Emma could tell the question was absolutely eating at her if what she'd been told by the other residents was anything to go by. "I'm just surprised a woman like you was able to get Gold to rent to you."

Bingo.

"Yeah, something like that." She didn't mention the fact that the infamous had nothing to do with it. "Henry just loves having a new home, though. Of course, with my salary, it's nothing like your place. I knew as soon as I saw that big white house that it had to belong to someone as powerful as the town's mayor. Your family must love having so much space, hmm?"

Cora glared at Emma and cleared her throat before announcing, "I live alone, Miss Swan. Not that it's any of your concern."

_Bing bing bing. Off goes the lie detector._

Emma furrowed her brows, wondering why the woman would lie about such a thing. Henry had, after all, been very insistent that Regina lived in that very house. Perhaps he misinterpreted something.

"Oh, well I bet you get a lot of visitors then."

"Miss Swan, why the sudden interest into my home?" Cora snapped. The direct avoidance of her question made Emma feel uneasy, and that internal lie detector felt about ready to combust from having been so ignored. "I can assure you that my private life is of no concern to the Sheriff's department."

Emma was saved from having to retort when Ruby walked over to the counter with the coffee in hand. "Mayor Mills."

"Miss Lucas," Cora nodded, only half interested in the waitress' presence. "Remind your grandmother that I expect a certain level of dress from people working around food." Her eyes trailed up and down Ruby's scantily clad body and Emma almost snorted as she detected yet another lie. At least this one would be a little fun.

With a huff, Cora clasped her hand around the to-go cup and stalked out of the diner. Emma couldn't hold back the chuckle any longer.

"What's so funny?" Ruby asked curiously.

"She totally wants you to keep wearing that outfit," Emma explained. "I think Madame Mayor likes it."

Ruby rolled her eyes in response. "Right. Why would you ever think that, anyways? That's like the tenth time she's commented on it this month. I'm surprised she hasn't tried anything yet."

"Exactly," Emma remarked. "Well, that, and the fact that she was totally lying when she told you to change."

"And you know this, because what? You're some sort of crazy psychic?" Ruby laughed.

"Something like that," Emma mumbled, looking down into her cup that was much too empty for her liking. Ruby must have noticed the pout because it was soon being refilled.

"Well, whatever it is must be broken. There's no way Mayor Mills is interested, no matter how hot I look in these shorts."

Emma laughed, but on the inside maybe wondered if it was broken. That would make it much easier to explain to Henry why he couldn't go back and see the woman at Cora's home. Hard to visit someone who doesn't actually exist.

But there was no doubt in Emma's mind that whatever it was she sensed from Cora was not a welcome feeling. The kid would not be setting foot near that house until she figured out just what that niggling sensation meant.

* * *

 

_Storybrooke: Present_

Henry Swan knew he wasn't supposed to go back to that house— his mom only told him about 53 times and bribed him out of leaving on Sunday with a huge super hero movie marathon— but nothing could make him forget about Regina and how haunting her eyes had been. He also knew that going over a different day wouldn't really be any different, but there was that niggling conflict in the back of his mind that kept serving as a reminder to the fact that he was also supposed to do the right thing.

Mom didn't have a lot of rules, but one she always told him was that he should always be a good person and not make promises he couldn't keep. Well, Henry had promised Regina he would return with the fullest intention of fulfilling that promise, and just because he was delayed a day did not mean he should just pretend it never happened.

So really, going to visit Regina would be a good thing since he was upholding the very core values his mother taught him. Or at least, he was pretty sure that's how Emma would explain it. He wasn't entirely sure what a "core value" was, but it sounded important since she usually only said it while yelling at him for getting in trouble.

So it was with this thought in mind that Henry put his plan into action. He decided to call it Operation Cobra: Phase One. The name sounded cool and would throw anyone off the trail should they become aware of it. Operation Cobra involved the very intricate planning that would allow him to sneak off to Regina's house without being noticed. Operative time available appeared to be right after school lets out.

"Henry, do I need to pick you up from school later?" his mom asked while rushing around to get to work on time on Monday morning. She was going to be late, he knew, as usual.

"Nope, I'm just going to wait for Miss Blanchard and walk home with her." He smiled behind a spoonful of cereal, sitting calmly while he watched her typical frantic routine.

"Okay, sounds good. Have a good day at school. Love you, kid!" Emma called as she hobbled to the front door with one boot still only half on. He was pretty sure she was trying to make time for a coffee run before work. He thought the stuff tasted nasty and didn't understand her need to go out of the way for it, but only one grumpy morning was all it took for him to understand the most basic rule of life— never question the coffee.

"Love you too, Mama!"

Almost immediately after the door slammed shut, Mary Margaret exited the bathroom and wandered into the kitchen. He was already planning to walk with her to school, but he knew for a fact that she had never discussed what happens after.

"Good morning, Henry," she chirped.

Remembering his manners and not wanting to be caught off his best behavior for the sake of the operation, Henry carefully chewed and swallowed his cocoa puff before saying, "Morning, Miss Blanchard."

"Did your mom just leave? I meant to ask her if she was picking you up from school. I can walk home with you, but you'll have to wait around a bit longer because there's after-school faculty meetings twice a week."

"You already missed her. But don't worry, she told me before she left that she's going to pick me up," Henry lied.

"Oh, that's great then. Almost ready to go?"

He shoveled another bite in his mouth to finish up his bowl and grinned. "Absolutely!"

The first step of phase one was to figure out his escape. Henry was surprised when school let out and, true to his earlier conversations, no one showed up to get him. This might just work out after all.

Henry had paid careful attention to where the mayor lived on the way to school since the closest walking route involved going right past her home. He knew finding it again on his own might be tricky, so as soon as Henry got to his classroom, he sketched out a quick map of directions. He even remembered to put a big green spot on a few corners where the biggest trees were. They also looked kind of fun to climb, so he tucked that away for later use.

Now that school was over, Henry had his scribbled map in his hands and was paying close attention to the turns. He realized that for the most part he remembered the way and smiled before folding his map into his pocket when the view of the vast white pillars came into his line of sight.

Operation Cobra: Destination Reached.

Henry followed his path from the previous day and peeked through the bushes to see if he could spot anyone there. He knew he was at around the same time as before, so the hope that Regina might still be outside was high. Surely enough, he soon began to hear a coughing sound and knew it must be her.

Regina was, once again, perched on her bench under a soft white blanket. She clutched it to her side tightly, like a shield, and stared off at an apple tree a few yards away. Henry wondered if she liked apples a lot, since she was looking at them with so much adoration. The bruise still adorned her face, only now it was somewhat smaller and more of a yellow in color, which meant it was healing.

"Hello!" he greeted happily, missing the way her entire body tensed when he jumped out of the bush. Henry just took her pained expression as a sign of sadness over his missed visit. "Sorry I didn't make it yesterday. I had a hard time sneaking away from my mom."

While he didn't think the action had been all that brave— although he did have a pretty mean plan— Henry found himself confused by Regina's reaction. Her eyes grew wide as saucers.

"You escaped? Will she not come for you?" Regina asked. He was surprised to note the concern in her tone, seeing as she never spoke quite so much to him during his first visit.

"I mean, I guess you can call it escaping. My Mom's not gonna be happy when she discovers I'm here, but I promised to come visit you so she would want me to keep my promises." Henry was happy to note that she seemed to relax into herself just a bit. "But I really am sorry I didn't make it back yesterday."

Regina's eyes moved towards the house for a moment before she looked back to him. "It's fine."

"Maybe, but I still feel bad. I thought we could talk more today. I have about an hour before anyone is going to notice I'm not around." Henry smiled, and Regina reluctantly returned it with a small up-curving of her own lips.

"Okay."

Henry looked at her and assessed the situation carefully. He was used to adults trying to make the conversations, but Regina didn't look prepared to make small talk. In fact, she was merely watching him with what looked like fascination of some sort. So, resigned with the fact that he would need to lead them, Henry did what any kid in his position would do and began asking her the first things that came to mind. He figured Emma would have yelled at him for not filtering himself, but she wasn't there.

"Why do you live with the mayor?" he asked bluntly.

Regina seemed taken aback by the questioning, but she didn't scold him for being too invasive or anything. Her eyes shifted back from the house to him again.

"Sh-she's my mother," she whispered.

Henry grimaced. As pretty as the mayor was, he didn't disagree with all the adults that thought her better to avoid.

"Oh. Are you visiting then? I thought you lived here, but Mary Margaret said that the mayor lives alone." He was confused, rightly so, as everyone kept trying to make him think he was imagining her presence. Henry hated feeling crazy, and so far, Regina seemed to be the only person not treating him as such.

"I live here."

Aha! So he was right.

"Why do you think Mary Margaret lied? I thought everyone knows everybody here. Or at least, that's what Ruby told me, and she's really smart and knows like, everything." She's also really pretty and nice to look at, but Henry didn't think Regina needed to know that part.

"I don't know. I've never met Mary Margaret, Henry," Regina answered almost sadly.

"Oh. Well, that's okay. You can meet her after you meet my mom." He liked Mary Margaret, though he didn't understand why Regina would seem so sad about not knowing her. She was almost a little too nice at times, but she gave him ice cream and let him watch movies with her, so she seemed all right. Maybe Regina really wanted a movie-watching buddy, he guessed.

Regina turned to the side away from him, still coughing once again. He felt bad that nobody seemed to be taking care of her. He lived with his mom and she would have given him that awful-tasting medicine by now, so by logic, since Regina and her mother live together, Henry assumed the same should have been happening.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Regina said, or rather, wheezed, when she could finally breathe again.

"Why not?" Henry asked in confusion. He thought she would be excited about the idea of finally getting more friends. She seemed too lonely, and Henry just wanted to help.

"I-I'm not supposed to talk to anyone. Mother might be angry." Again, her gaze shifted back to the house for a moment, and he considered asking again but didn't want to uproot the conversation.

"You're talking to me."

"I know, and I shouldn't be." She looked down at her lap with a frown.

"Then why are you?"

"I guess I just like your company."

Henry beamed. He had been slightly worried that Regina didn't like him. Normally adults jumped at the chance to talk with him and compliment him, but Regina always stayed her distance and spoke so softly he had to strain his little ears just to hear her. But to hear this, that she actually liked talking to him and wasn't even doing so simply because he was, let's face it, completely adorable, was enough to earn Regina a place on his pedestal forever.

"Oh, well that's cool. I like yours, too. I'm glad we're friends, Regina."

"Me too." She gave him another little smile, and as they appeared to be so rare, Henry treasured it.

"So," he began, "how come I never see you around town? Maybe if my Mama met you at Granny's she'd want to be your friend too, so then I would be allowed to visit and not have to sneak away."

"I don't go out," Regina said blankly.

"Ever?" He couldn't even fathom the thought of staying home all day. There were far too many people to see and places to be for that to ever happen. Although, hearing this did make a bell go off in his head. If Regina didn't leave home, no wonder people didn't know she was real. He wished he could share this tidbit with his mom and Mary Margaret so they'd stop seeing him as crazy, but that would involve compromising the operation (and possibly getting him grounded when they realized how he knew that).

"No. Mother says it's not safe for me."

"How come?" Henry specifically remembered Emma telling him how safe Storybrooke was, but she had freaked out when he took Elsie on a walk, so maybe she wasn't very right about that. He'd have to do some investigating and ask Ruby.

Regina didn't answer, instead fidgeting in her seat nervously. He watched as she played with a stray string from the blanket, rolling it around between her fingertips in a repetitive motion. Several times Regina opened her mouth, as if to spill some sort of secret, but then she closed it up tight just as quickly. He knew from the way she was watching him that Regina wasn't going to be revealing anything, so despite his age, Henry wasn't entirely surprised when instead of providing him with an answer, Regina cleared her throat and changed the subject after several minutes of silence.

"Henry, how is your knee?"

"Huh?"

"You were bleeding the other day." Truthfully, until now, Henry didn't even remember having the injury. He did have a cool Batman band-aid on it, though, so the child didn't hesitate in rolling his pant leg up to show her his favorite superhero proudly displayed.

"Oh, right. It's fine. I'm a big boy now, Mama says, so I can handle it. I'm tough." To emphasize his point, Henry held up his arms and flexed. He was positive Regina would be impressed.

"I'm glad. And your little friend, Elsie. How's she?"

"She's fine. Mama took her to work since I was at school, or else I woulda brought her with me so she could see you again. But I couldn't risk getting caught. I'm still tryna convince her that you're nice. She doesn't like me talking to strangers, but I don't think you're a stranger anymore. In fact, can I sit up there with you? The ground's kinda wet."

As he spoke, Henry looked down at his pants. Shortly after arriving he had flung his backpack to the ground and plopped down on the grass right in front of her. Now, he was beginning to remember that it rained the night before, and there was a nice muddy stain beginning to form on the seat of his pants that Emma was definitely not going to be happy about finding when she did the laundry later.

"Of course."

"Cool!"

Regina rigidly scooted over on the bench to leave enough room for him to sit to her right. The little boy walked forward eagerly and hoisted himself up onto the tall bench before curling up against her side. Arms still under the blanket and holding it closed, Regina could do nothing more than stiffen against him. She wasn't used to others being so comfortable near her. Mother would never approve of such contact with anyone else.

Regina was tainted, no good, unsafe. She was the last person Henry should be so close to, yet she didn't have the heart to push the small boy away. He was the first person to pay her any attention in so long, and she truly didn't think she would harm him. She didn't want to be locked up again. Her memories of it were so hazy, but Mother always reminded her of how horrible it was to hear screams in the night and feel so utterly lost.

She didn't feel bad, and Henry didn't make her feel lost at all, but Regina vowed to be careful around him. He was good and didn't deserve to suffer the consequence of being near her.

"Can I ask you something, Regina?" Henry's young voice broke through her thoughts, tearing up the detrimental path she was heading towards.

"I suppose."

Regina was reluctant to allow him the courtesy when he spoke to her so blatantly, but she was afraid denying the request would scare him away.

"Why do you always look back at the house like that?"

"What do you mean?" she asked nervously.

Truth be told, Regina knew exactly what Henry was referring to. How could she explain to such a young child that she feared being caught should her mother come home early? Surely he wouldn't understand her punishment for such actions. He could never know what she had to do each night, as it would frighten him away. She was sick, not a decent person for such a young boy to be around, but Regina still couldn't risk the thought of losing the only person to ever call her a friend.

She could never explain to him how she slid between her mother's sheets and begged. She could barely even rationalize it with herself.

Regina could feel Henry watching her and knew from his scrunched up expression that he must be thinking hard about something.

"I don't know. It's just somethin' I noticed, I guess. I'm observant, just like my Mama. And then…"

"What?"

She felt her heartbeat rising with fear that he knew. Even the child had picked up on her  _disease_ — as that's the best word she knew to describe it. Regina felt her lungs constricting towards another coughing fit as the panic welled up in her already full chest.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but you always just seem so scared. And sometimes I get scared when I'm around a bunch of adults because they're so much bigger than me and talk about stuff I'm not supposed to know about. But then my Mama picks me up and I get to be just like everyone else, which makes me happy and not so scared anymore. Why aren't you happy?"

Regina sighed, searching for an answer to the impossible questions. She'd never questioned her own happiness before. It was something distant and radical to her mind. Mother would never approve of someone like her feeling such a frivolous emotion. Regina wasn't sure she'd ever felt light enough to truly call herself happy. Joy may have been glimpsed in her life, like when Henry spoke to her so kindly, but the underlying guilt ate away at too much to leave anything behind for something so abstract and wild.

"Sometimes people just don't deserve to be happy, Henry," she answered in a deflated tone. Regina considered explaining further, but she didn't want to burden such a small boy with her secrets.

"Of course they do," Henry insisted, flailing his arms wildly against her side. "Everyone does! Mama says that even the meanest and grumpiest people in the whole wide world gotta have something that makes them feel happy. It's… uh, I forget the word. Like nature?"

"Natural?"

"Yeah, that. It's natural. So what would make you happy?"

_Natural._ As if anything about Regina was natural. She considered telling that to Henry, twiddling her thumbs all the while. She also considered telling him some made-up answer that would satisfy the inquisitive boy's piqued interest with her, but Regina couldn't find it in herself to lie to him. The truth wasn't even an option because she wasn't sure she actually had an answer for herself.

Regina met Henry's eyes in a silent plea for the question to go away, but it only served to spur him on further.

"It's okay, you can tell me. I promise I won't even laugh if it's silly."

_Oh, Henry,_ Regina thought,  _if only my answer was something worthy of a laugh. At least then it would bring happiness to someone._

"I don't know what makes me happy," she admitted quietly.

"Haven't you ever been happy before?"

"I think I…" Regina thought back and truly did try to find a time. One may have been there, buried deeply within the fog of her past, but still it only appeared as an idea. She couldn't reach out and touch it or pull herself into the situation enough to understand it. Happiness only existed in Regina's mind as a glimmer too molded into the past and stomped over to be recovered.

"I can't remember what it feels like," she finally admitted as defeat was accepted.

Fortunately for her, Henry didn't seem to be deterred by the painful admission.

"Hmm, well, it's like when you are having a really bad day, but then you get home from school and Mom has your favorite chocolate chip cookies in the oven. So, even though things were making you not so happy, you see something really nice and it makes you feel all warm inside and you smile. That's what happy feels like."

Regina would be lying if she said she could relate to or even understood Henry's explanation, but the joy speaking about it brought to his face did resonate with her. Mother didn't bake her junk-food or elevate her days in such a kind-hearted way, and Regina found herself feeling slightly jealous that Henry was lucky enough to find happiness in such a simple way. The more she heard about his mother, the more she wished to have the woman for herself. She was like a protector, always trying to keep her son safe. She was Regina's biggest dream and her deepest regret all rolled into one.

"I think that sounds lovely."

Smiling, Regina reached out a reluctant hand and carefully placed it atop Henry's head. When he didn't pull away from the contact, her fingers began to rake back through his hair, feeling the warmth radiating off the small boy. He was so simple and content that she wished she could leech onto him and suck some out for herself. Instead, she busied herself with the soothing motion and stared off back into the direction of her tree.

"Wanna know what always makes me happy?" Henry asked.

"What?"

"I'll show you."

Before she could even ask what Henry meant by that, two little arms were circling around her and grasping on tightly. At first, Regina wasn't sure what was happening. She was waiting for the first strike against her and, as a reflex, turned her gaze quickly to the house.

_No one's home. The door's empty. Check._

As little Henry continued with what she reasoned was a hug, Regina slowly pulled her arms out and wrapped them back around his snug little body. The feeling was unfamiliar; she'd experienced Mother putting her into the position before, but that always came with a painful price. Henry was just doing this because he wanted to comfort her, and that was extremely hard for Regina to believe, yet she had no reason to distrust the child.

For a moment, Regina held on tightly and closed her eyes. She allowed herself one minute to wonder about what it would be like for this to be her life. Regina imagined motherhood and having a son willing to take care of her in such a simple way; she imagined joy and smiles filled with laughter as she spent the day in the sun on a picnic with her family. And though she'd never met his mother, Regina even imagined Henry as an older woman. She would have long blonde hair and cute little dimples indented into her cheeks whenever she smiled.

Regina pictured her with them, sitting beneath a tree and laughing as she protected them both from any harms. She imagined herself clinging to the woman's waist and for once feeling carefree about her life; that horrible institution was the furthest thing from her mind.

Henry's mother would sing to them both softly and they'd fall asleep on either side of her. Cora would somehow never know and maybe, just maybe, Regina would be able to uncover what that glimmer of happiness truly could feel like.

"See?" Henry's voice broke her out of her thoughts and back to reality. "Hugs always make me happy because I know that the other person cares about me."

"You're hugging me," she pointed out, trying to understand what he meant.

"Because I care about you, Regina. You're my friend and I really just want you to be happy. You're really pretty when you smile."

"Oh, Henry." Regina didn't recall ever hearing such kind words directed at her, so for him, she allowed a small smile to play out across her face.

"Do feel a warm thumping in your chest?"

"I… think so?" Well, she didn't now, not when reality was still so close and the threat of that house was constantly looming over her shoulder. But Regina thought that, just for a moment when her eyes were closed and she was picturing such a perfect day, perhaps she had felt a shadow of what Henry was describing.

"Then that means you're happy!"

She didn't have the heart to explain to him that no, she wasn't truly happy, just deluded into wishing she could be. Instead, Regina just nodded and allowed him to think he'd succeeded.

"Well, then I suppose I quite like being happy, Henry. Thank you."

"You're welc-" Henry was cut off by a loud booming voice from inside. She'd been so distracted by her fantasy that Regina never even heard the car pull in. She never should have allowed herself this reprieve from life. Henry was too distracting and only acting as a threat. Not only was she in danger because of his presence and the way he knocked her guards down and kept her unaware, but Henry would also be in harm's way should he get caught speaking with her.

"Regina!" Cora's voice yelled from inside, flaring the panic once more.

"Oh, no. Mother's home. Henry, you need to go."

"Why? Maybe your mom will be happy for you." Henry's smile at her was no longer adorable. Instead, it was frustrating and she needed him to get away. He would never understand.

"No! We aren't going to speak about her, Henry," Regina spoke firmly. His watery sad eyes in response made her feel bad for raising her voice at him, but time was running out. She'd rather he hate her and feel afraid than overstay his welcome and meet Cora.

"But…" Henry tried to plead tearfully.

" _No,_ " Regina yelled before grabbing him sharply by the shoulders to make the boy meet her eyes. "Henry, I mean it. I need you to run back through those bushes and don't stop until you're home, do you understand?"

"Mhmm." She could hear the fear in his tone and desperately wanted to apologize to keep from losing her only friend, but there was no choice.

"Good, then leave! Quickly!"

With a small shove, Regina had him off the bench and in the direction of his backpack, which was grabbed before the boy tearfully ran for the bushes.

No sooner did Henry disappear from site than did Cora's presence appear at the sliding back door.

"Regina? Who were you talking to just now?"

"No one, mother. Just a little bird," she lied nervously.

Cora stepped forward and stopped just before the bench. She craned her neck around their surroundings and looked skeptically down at Regina.

"I don't see any bird, dear."

"Yes, well, it seems he flew off into the sky."  _Lucky bird._

Cora sighed dramatically and glared. "Regina, you need to stop with all this nonsense."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I don't appreciate you making reference to me keeping you captive. It's for your own safety, and I will not tolerate you undermining me and throwing in your snide remarks whenever you wish," Cora ordered.

"That's not what I meant, Mother." Regina knew her defenses were weak at best and would never work, but at least it would distract her mother from possibly spotting Henry still running away.

"You don't want to go back  _there_  Regina. Do you?" Cora threatened.

"No," she said with a quiver.

"Then come inside, girl. Your time is up and I have something I need you to look at for me upstairs." The innuendo was clear, Regina would be punished, so she clung tightly to her blanket and pushed up from the bench.

"What is it mother?"

"It's in my bedroom. You'll see. Now, go up and wait for Mother, hmm?"

"Yes, Mother." Regina nodded obediently and walked inside, knowing Mother would be close behind.

Little did she know that a pair of young eyes observed the whole confrontation from behind a secluded hedge.

* * *

 

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear what you think.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Incestuous smut ahead! Don't fret it really does have a purpose for the plot.
> 
> A/N: Wow! Thank you guys so much for the lovely responses. Apparently I should update fast more often. I have a massive exam tonight, so naturally I took some spare time I had to edit this instead of studying. XD Ah well, this is more fun. A lot more fun. Enjoy! p.s. I don't know if you guys are interested or not, probably not, but there's this blonde that might be meeting a certain brunette in the next chapter... but you guys aren't excited about that or anything, right?

_Present: Storybrooke_

Days went by and, despite Regina's sudden anger at him, Henry continued to come back for their daily conversations. Every day, Henry would leave on his own and make his way to Regina's home. Afterwords, he would return to the apartment where Mary Margaret was and claim his mother had dropped him off after they got a snack at Granny's, so neither would question the arrangement or who had him, because when Emma returned home she always just assumed he was there the whole time. He gave little thought to the possibility of being caught after the first two visits, and by Friday, Henry barely even registered the fact that he wasn't supposed to be sneaking off like that.

Unfortunately, Phase One of Operation Cobra was about to be intercepted.

Emma pulled the yellow bug up against the curb outside the apartment with a big smile on her face. It was Friday, so she should have been at work, but Graham gave her the rest of the day off after feeling so pleased by her work on the reports for the week. She was already planning an ice cream and movie night, knowing Henry would be excited by the idea.

She quickly shut off her bug, got out, and jogged upstairs to the apartment with the fullest intention of surprising her son. To Emma's disappointment, when she opened the door, no little arms wrapped around her legs.

"Henry?" Emma called out, confused. He almost always attacked her the moment she walked in the door, no matter what time it might be. Emma swore he probably had some sort of weird sixth sense 'Mama-dar' that alerted him to her presence.

So where was he now?

Emma shut the door behind her just as Mary Margaret stepped into view from the kitchen.

"Emma? What are you doing home so early?" she asked kindly while Emma hung up her coat.

"Graham let me take the rest of the day off, so I thought I'd come surprise Henry. Where is he?" Emma continued looking around the apartment for her son, now thinking that maybe he was playing a game and hiding. "I guess he's not here," Emma spoke louder than necessary. "Oh, no. Who's gonna eat all this ice cream I just bought with me?" she finished with a snort.

When Henry still didn't run out to her, Emma started to get nervous.

"Emma, why are you speaking so loudly?" Mary Margaret's brow furrowed in confusion.

"I was hoping it would lure Henry out. What's he up to, anyways? Usually the kid would tackle me to the ground for ice cream," Emma mused.

"Why are you asking me? Shouldn't he be with you?" Mary Margaret asked with a laugh. She turned and made her way back to the open kitchen when the shrill sound of her tea pot being finished whistled through the room.

Emma froze, processing the words through her mind twice before the panic set in even further.

"Mary Margaret, what are you talking about? He always walks home with you. Why would I have him?" Emma's voice grew higher with each sentence.

"Oh, I just assumed… he never mentioned anything to me this morning about the arrangements being different, and I never saw him… don't worry, I'm sure he's still sitting at the school completely fine," she said calmly.

"Different how? Doesn't he go home with you every day?" Emma had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

"No." Now Mary Margaret seemed to be getting it, and her face contorted into one of confusion. "He told me on Monday that you were just going to pick him up so he wouldn't have to wait every day."

Emma blanched, thinking back to her conversation with the kid the same day and suddenly feeling a little piece of her world cave in. "He told me the same day that he was going to walk home with you, and he's always here when I get back so I assumed it was working out. Mary Margaret, how the hell is my son getting home?" Emma knew she was starting to lose it and felt bad for snapping at the younger woman— it was hardly her fault— but she was scared.

"I- I don't know, Emma. I'm so sorry. Every day he comes in that door just a little after me and says you've taken him for a snack on the way home and dropped him off downstairs. I never thought to question it."

At the look of pure guilt on the teacher's face, Emma softened her stance and ran a hand down her face in frustration.

"Look, it's not your fault. I'm the kid's mother; it's my job to know where he is, not yours. I'm just…"  _oh shit._  Emma felt the tears welling up before she could do anything to stop them and the resilient little things just wouldn't go away. Emma Swan was not an easy crier, and rarely did she ever shed a tear over mundane things like life's typical problems, but finding out that her five year old was pulling one over on her for who the hell knows what reason and wandering around  _alone_ , or worse, with a total stranger, was making Emma freak out just a bit.

"Oh, Emma. Shh, don't worry we will find him and I'm sure he'll be fine. In about five minutes from now, he should be walking through that door. If he doesn't return when he normally does, then we'll go look for him, okay?" Mary Margaret pulled her unwillingly into a hug, but Emma just kept her hands over her face and didn't return it. She was already crying, there was no need to break herself down any further and do something else so entirely uncharacteristic.

"I know. Henry is a smart boy, so I'm not really worried about him getting hurt but like…" Emma groaned as more frustrated tears broke away, "the kid is five.  _Five._  I'm supposed to have years until he starts lying to me and sneaking away. What the hell does a five year old have to do that he needs to sneak away for?"

Even as the words came out, Emma's brain began finally working again and formed an answer. Of course— Regina. The mystery woman held his attention so strongly that Emma never should have been tricked into thinking he just gave up on her. After the weekend, Henry stopped mentioning her, so Emma just assumed the excitement of starting school was enough to distract him from her, but apparently not. She should have realized that him not talking about her was because he was trying to pretend he was fine, when in reality, the kid was probably sneaking away to pay her a visit every single afternoon with none the wiser.

Mary Margaret just patted her back, clearly at a loss for what to say. The other woman probably thought a five year old taking such initiative was just as strange as Emma did, but then again, Henry was never the most normal child. He was always so advanced for his age, always wanted to be as adventurous as his father.

Neal left so early on, Emma hoped to avoid him ever being like that, but already her little boy was trying to wander away.

Just then, when Emma was about to give up waiting and take to the streets, the front door flung open and in walked a smiling little Henry, perfectly fine.

He paused in his steps and took one look at her in her tearful state still being hugged by Mary Margaret before swallowing thickly. Emma could see the panic rise in his eyes as he slowly shut the door behind him and shuffled forward.

"Mama? Why are you crying?" Henry asked, and damn if the kid wasn't so adorable. This whole anger thing was not going to be easy, but every time she pictured him blatantly lying to her face, Emma felt refueled for the fight.

"I think you know why, Henry. Go sit on the couch." Emma closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice cool and even.

"But, Mama…"

"Now, Henry!" she bit out.

Eyes still closed, Emma could only hear a thud from his backpack dropping to the ground and then the small shuffles of little feet making their way around her. With a deep breath, Emma looked over at him and prepared for what was going to be a very long talk.

"Emma, I'm going to go down to Granny's for a bit so you two can be alone," Mary Margaret said. Emma nodded gratefully and waited in silence until her roommate was gone and out the front door.

Looking over, she found Henry sitting on the couch that was big enough to swallow his small body. He was looking down guiltily at his feet, tears welling up in his little eyes, so she knew it was time to start so she didn't make him stew too long. Despite what he did, he was still just a little boy.

"Henry, I know you've been lying to me and Mary Margaret about who's taking you home," Emma began firmly before sitting down on the couch next to him. "I'm not going to yell because I can see you know what you did was very bad, but we need to figure this out, kid. You can't keep doing stuff like this. What I want to know is, why? What have you been doing after school?"

He took a deep breath and looked up at her as if assessing whether she was safe enough to be let in on some big secret or not. After a moment of silence, Emma raised an eyebrow in warning so he knew it was best to start talking.

"Okay, I'll tell you, but you hafta keep it a secret."

"I promise, whatever it is, you can tell me." She left out the part where he didn't actually get a choice in the matter of if he tells her or not, as she figured it was better to let Henry think she was letting him decide.

"It's called Operation Cobra," he announced with an exaggerated whisper.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"It's my codename for visiting Regina," he sheepishly admitted.

Emma sighed, wishing she had been wrong in her assumption that he was sneaking off to meet a woman who shouldn't by any account even exist.

"And that's where you've been? Every day?"

"I know you said to stay away, but she just looks so sad. Mama, she even told me she's never had a friend before. Isn't that awful?" He looked up with those puppy eyes he was so good at and Emma felt her heart break just a bit. Henry never was very good at making friends. Back home he had been in pre-school and usually sat by himself, and now a week into Kindergarten and he'd yet to mention any children to her when she asked about it.

"Yes, Henry, it is. But she needs to go make friends her own age, and so do you."

"I knew it!" Henry exclaimed happily, completely catching Emma off guard.

"Knew what?" she asked wearily.

"I told Regina that you'd be her friend, too. You should come with me to meet her tomorrow," he said with a beaming smile. Emma frowned, knowing this is not how she'd imagined this conversation going.

"Woah, kid hold up. You are not going anywhere tomorrow. I mean it, no more visiting Regina," Emma ordered firmly.

"Why not?" Oh no, the pout was back.

"Because, I said so," Emma tried, cringing at herself. Henry looked even less amused by the answer and only quirked an eyebrow at her in response.

"That's not a real reason, Mama."

Emma sighed, wishing her kid wasn't so smart.

"Look, Henry, I don't think it's safe for you to be talking to this woman, okay? I don't know anything about her; I don't know if she's dangerous or what's going on. What do you even do there?" Emma was trying desperately not to picture anyone hurting him, but his excitement was pretty deterring to any horrible thoughts that might creep up on her. But really, what kind of adult only wanted a kid for company?

"We just talk," Henry insisted. "Her mom doesn't let her leave, so she has no one else to talk to about stuff. Mostly I just tell her about you and my day. I don't think her mom takes very good care of her either." Henry looked sad, and she wondered what exactly he meant by that before a more pressing thought occurred to her.

"Her mom? Do you know who her mom is?"

"Yeah, the Mayor," Henry answered with one of those 'duh' faces he was always so good at. Emma knew Cora had to be lying when she said she lived alone. She just didn't understand why the woman would lie about living with her adult daughter. Something was definitely wrong with this situation, and now that her son was involved, Emma needed to get to the bottom of it.

"Henry, after dinner tonight I need you to tell me how to find Regina," Emma said seriously.

"You're gonna go meet her?" He practically beamed.

"Yes. I think it's about time I do. But you are under no circumstances to leave this house when I do tomorrow, do you understand me? I mean it. Something weird is going on, Henry, and I don't want you going over there until I know more."

Henry frowned and seemed ready to argue but didn't. He was happier that she was going to go see Regina at all than anything else.

"Okay," Henry finally said with a sigh.

"And don't think you're not in trouble still, Mister. Even if you were helping your friend, it is absolutely no excuse for lying to us and running off like that. You really scared me, kid."

"Am I grounded forever?" he asked almost mournfully, and if Emma wasn't trying to come off as serious she would have laughed at his dramatics.

"Maybe not forever," she conceded, "but no TV for a week, I expect you to apologize to Mary Margaret when she gets home, and I think you're gonna be helping me dry a lot of dishes for the next month."

Henry sighed and looked down at his feet. "I guess that's fair, Mama."

"Good." Emma smiled, finally allowing herself to relax and pull her little boy into a big hug. "I'm really glad you're okay, kid. Please don't ever do that to me again. I don't know what I'm gonna do if you keep disappearing," she whispered into his hair before plopping a kiss down onto the top of his head.

"I'm sorry, Mama. I didn't mean to."

"I know, kid. Love you."

"Love you too, Mama.

* * *

_Past: Fairy Tale Land_

"Hello, dear," Cora growled as she stomped into the chamber. Regina was spread out across the bed, a book in hand, and jumped when she noticed the older woman's presence. She had been so engrossed in a tale about dragons and knights that she had momentarily forgotten about her frequent— and only— visitor.

"Mother." Regina bowed her head respectfully.

Cora's eyes trailed up the bare skin of her body. Regina knew after the first time that covering up wouldn't be a suitable idea. She would only be punished for it, so letting Mother ogle her was a small price to pay if it meant another week without the chains.

Living in the chamber was different than Regina's expected. For one, she was rarely permitted her own name, and might as well have been banned from having one until further notice. Mother said it gave her too much power and sometimes that made her uncomfortable. She was just "girl" or "pet" most of the time. Regina found pet to be the most fitting, as she was constantly being treated as one, locked away in a cage and only allowed company when her dominant owner becomes bored with the trivialities of life. - change to something else.

She was also still trying to get used to her wardrobe. The first night there, Cora made sure to strip Regina of all her clothing, leaving behind nothing but a leather set of undergarments. They were uncomfortable and chaffed if she moved too much, so Regina kept to her spot on the bed whenever moving around could be avoided. Cora's visits were the only time she was permitted to remove the garish set.

Regina had no sense of time within the room where the sun never appeared and the lighting never changed. The constant thrumming of hearts became quickly burned into her brain until Regina was certain she could distinguish every single beat from the rest, like a fingerprint. Everything was repetitive and frozen in place to her, and time no longer existed in even the most abstract form. All she knew was that even when she felt abandoned for far too long, Mother would always show up ready for her not even a moment later.

"Have you been a good girl today, pet?" Cora asked. The bed dipped low a few feet from Regina where Cora sat down. She reached her hand out and began stroking Regina's cheek. She wanted to spit out that she wasn't some scrappy cat from an ally out in the villages, that she was a person and not there for Cora's pleasure and nothing more, but Regina couldn't seem to shake the thought that this was her own fault. She was dirty and wrong, so mother needed to punish her in these ways. It all held a purpose and she was exactly that.

She was nothing, so low to the dirt that her name was no longer worthy of her— if she would not be Queen, she could never bare the title, even in such a way.

Cora was Queen now, and Regina learned quickly to submit to her rule in order to survive.

"Yes, I have," she answered shortly. Too many words were not permitted, and when she did speak, Regina had to make sure her head was held lower than Cora's and her sentences contained fewer words than whatever she was responding to, unless directed otherwise. Speaking was a privilege, not a right.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it, because Mommy needs her favorite good girl to make her feel all better." Without hesitation, Cora reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Regina's ear. She cupped the girl's cheek in her palm and pulled her in close, breathing against Regina's lips so close yet not touching.

"The king was feeling especially handsy today, dear. You know what that means."

Oh, Regina knew, and she dreaded hearing those words more than ever. Two things always happened as the result of the King wanting Cora's attention and hitting her with his advances. One, he was always quite rough and would leave bruises along the other woman's skin. While Cora didn't ever so much as complain, sans one comment about the nasty color left behind, Regina always felt a pit sink in her stomach when she laid eyes on the marks. Mother was hers, she didn't want to share her, and she hated the thought of someone else's hands touching what she treasured and took care of so deeply.

Mother said she was nothing, but still gave her one last chance in life, one final assignment that she had to succeed in without failure. All she had to do was please her, and Regina could do it if that meant working towards being someone worthwhile again. She would happily be a pet just to appease mother, but the bruises were painful for her to see.

They also reminded Regina of what could have been had she been forced into the loveless marriage with the old king. She was never as resilient as Mother, and Regina didn't think she could handle the thought of his hands all over her body like that. She despised his very existence.

The other consequence to Cora's "visits" with Leopold were that he was an older man and rarely wasn't selfish in his desires. He came, took what he wanted, and left without regard for the state her mother was in. That often meant that Regina was left with the duty of finishing what was already started, and Cora was a very impatient woman.

At first she had resisted, not understanding what was happening or why Mother was making her do that, but after a few weeks (maybe more, she still didn't have any sense of time), Regina found herself almost craving it, if for no other reason than to get that moment of attention. She had the upper hand in those minutes where Mother needed her, she had a purpose, and Regina wanted that more than anything anymore.

Those moments where Cora came to her like this were horrible, made her feel disgusted with herself and plead in her mind for freedom, but Regina craved and longed for them like nothing else.

Finally Mother closed the distance, pressing her cherry red lips into Regina's. She could taste a feint flavor of alcohol on her lips, a sure sign Leopold had been indulging before. Regina hated that she could taste him on  _her_  mother.

She eagerly kissed back, following Cora's lead. She no longer resisted the kisses that could bring her to whimpers in only moments. Cora waved an impatient hand and her clothes were gone the moment she pressed up against Regina, ample breasts rubbing against the leather undergarments.

"Heel," Cora whispered. She felt pressure against her waist and obliged Cora by falling back onto the bed like a good pet, grinning up at Mother as if waiting for her treat.

She climbed on top of Regina, shoving her down into the mattress and leaving eager kisses all along her jaw. Soon a breast was being pushing into Regina's mouth, which she received obediently and suckled on the nipple with a happy moan.

"You should have seen Snow today," Cora began once she realized Regina would continue her ministrations, sucking then biting and licking on the tender flesh of her breast. It wasn't uncommon for her to make small talk during these moments, usually to fuel Regina's anger when she was least able to respond. "There was a grand celebration for her birthday, and a young Prince began to show interest. She's young but you know that girl and her romantic notions of true love."

As expected, Regina's temper began to flare, and she involuntarily bit down on Cora's nipple hard enough to make the woman straddled above her moan. "Gentle," Cora bit out, though Regina knew a part of her liked it, otherwise she'd have been whipped halfway across the room by now. Cora told her these things because she  _wanted_  that to happen.

"Anyways, so of course the foolish girl was just glowing and flaunting about all night. It was quite unbecoming of a lady, but of course no one cares when she's Princess I suppose. Her father isn't much better, always going on to her about how she'll find someone perfect some day soon."

Cora reached down and halted Regina's movements so she could move her other, more neglected breast into place. Regina obliged and began the same motions once again. She knew this interlude was an excuse for Cora to pause before the big blow. That always came right when she wanted to suck Regina in and make it hurt, just to remind her that she wasn't worthy of the same level of affection.

Cora sighed happily before continuing. "In fact, today she brought up the most peculiar thing. She started going on about you and that boy, how foolish you were for falling for his act. She loathes his very existence, in fact. The whole kingdom shames his family now," Cora said casually. This time Regina's bite was on purpose and hard enough to draw blood.

Cora yelped and glared down at her, pulling back so she could inspect the damage, which was luckily minimal. There was nothing more than a scolding tsk shot down at her, but Regina frowned when Cora sat up straight where she was out of reach, just hovering above her hips.

Regina was angry, filling herself with hatred by the minute. How dare that little bitch Snow White ever speak about Daniel in such a way. She didn't deserve to even utter his name, especially after it was her fault he was killed. There were few things Regina had to think on in her time in the solitude of the heart chamber, but one was very prominent in the back of her mind at most times.

With every pulse of a heart, the thump thump thumping that at times felt like it might just drive her to insanity, Regina felt there was one missing. One small, "pure" little heart so damaged from the ill will it caused that she would love to watch it crushed between mother's fingers as the ultimate revenge.

It was thoughts like these that spurred Regina to go on in the hopes that one day she might reap such benefits from pleasing her mother well enough. With Daniel gone and only Mother around to comfort her, Regina had nothing but her anger and revenge to look forward to, and oh how sweet she imagined it would taste.

Just the thought of Snow enjoying herself out at a ball where she was doted upon and able to dream freely about things like true love, all the while degrading Regina's only taste at it to nothing, made her stomach churn and her blood boil. Snow White deserved nothing more than a cold dose of reality, and she felt sick to hear it wasn't all she received.

"I suppose you've been a good pet, tending to Mommy. Would you like your treat?" Cora purred, pulling Regina back to the present.

Regina nodded eagerly, not that she would have dared say no anyways.

With a devilish smirk, Cora began scooting her way up Regina's torso, and she moaned as she felt a warm wet trail began to form against her skin where Cora allowed herself to drag lower a little. She was ready for her, and judging by the direction she was moving, Regina would definitely be getting something special soon.

Mother didn't stop until she was above Regina's face, legs bent and thighs pressed firmly to either side of Regina's head. She feared how easy it would be for Cora to merely sit down and suffocate her.

There was a time where the sweet smell hovering above her nose would have made Regina blanch, but now it was the most supple thing she was permitted to eat besides water, bread, and a little occasional fruit when she was behaving herself. Now, Mother's dripping wetness called out to her, and there was no hesitation when she obeyed and gave a gentle lick along the parted pink folds just above her. Regina had to crane her neck up a bit to reach, so her hands found Cora's hips and tugged her down an inch or so.

Perfect.

Regina hummed at the taste of Cora on her tongue, sweet but with an unmistakable tang that bit into her senses, and she continued lapping her up while Cora clenched her legs tighter and stirred above her.

"I heard the funniest story from one of my ladies the other day, dear. Apparently, this position is called 'Queening.' Can you imagine? I suppose it's fitting, to have a pet like you so willing to let me take my throne, hmm?" The talking meant there would be more to come, likely hurtful words, so Regina sped up her movements, switching from circling Cora's engorged clit to dipping inside her with her tongue and then back out and around. Even through her level speaking, Regina could hear the strain and stifled pants Cora was striving not to release.

"Perhaps I should teach it to Snow, since she's so keen on marriage. Don't you think? I think it might be such a valuable lesson for an impressionable young girl to know. After all, she does admire me greatly. Why, just this morning, I was told how much she loved me as a mother. Such a grateful daughter, she is. It's a shame." All the while she spoke, Cora's voice remained light and conversational, and if not for the slight fault when Regina changed things up and sucked her clit between her lips, Cora would have appeared almost oblivious to Regina's presence beneath her.

How dare Snow have any claim of her mother like that, Regina thought. Her anger increased tenfold and she sped up her pace, now moving sporadically against Cora to make her peak harder. Snow didn't deserve her mother's love, didn't deserve anything from her after what she did. And as Regina's anger hit a melting point that burst throughout her chest, so did Cora, who clenched her legs impossibly tight and shuddered above, crying out while Regina lapped up the spilled juices that flowed from her and coated her chin messily. The mix of pleasure and hatred were so exhilarating, tasted so sweet, that Regina almost cried when Cora finally parted on shaky legs and moved to lie down beside her on the bed.

Sometimes Cora would go back to her own bed chambers afterwords, but on rare nights like tonight, she would allow Regina to indulge her in a little body heat. They silently moved beneath the covers, and Cora magically removed Regina's leather undergarments so that she could rub against her with more ease during the night. An arm snaked around Regina's waist and pulled her close so that their chests were smashed into each other. Regina allowed Cora to hold her and relished in the warmth provided by the hold. Mother was cold by nature, but in those few moments after a climax, she always radiated just enough heat to share.

She tried to sleep, but there was still a part of Cora's words that echoed around Regina's mind and refused to leave her be.

"Why is it a shame?"

"Hmm?" Cora questioned drowsily.

"You said it was a shame that Snow is grateful. Why is that?" Regina asked suspiciously.

Cora merely laughed in response, tightening her possessive grip around her waist. "Oh, girl, you didn't honestly think I could let her live did you? It's only a matter of waiting my darling." She placed a hot kiss against Regina's neck. "You just have to be patient. I can't sit around worrying about some little trollop ruining my chances to rule, can I?"

"Will she suffer?" Regina couldn't help but ask.

"Of course she will. If you're a good pet, maybe I'll even let you help me crush the heart."

"I love you, Mother."

With a smile, Regina snuggled back into her mother's embrace, feeling almost content for the first time in who knows how long as she drifted off to sleep, thoughts of the girl's small cold body lying lifeless on the floor, and only her left to reside in Mother's arms.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Abuse and assault mentions/allusions.
> 
> A/N: I am so excited about getting my ticket to Fairy Tale Con and the potential that I'll get to meet Lana that I'm updating a little early! It actually would have been up sooner but I was too busy trying to decide what to wear... I only have like 5 or 6 months to figure that out, after all XD Any of you going? Eep, I'm so excited! Anyways, here it is, the chapter I'm pretty sure none of you have been waiting for super impatiently ;) Thanks for all the kind words!

_Present: Storybrooke_

Emma checked herself over in the mirror one final time. She could do this. She wasn't sure why her appearance mattered, it's not like she even knew the woman or had any reason to need to impress her, but Emma couldn't get over the niggling feeling that this was important.

Ever since saying she would go check things out at the Mayor's house, Emma had been forced to deal with an over-excited Henry. It's not that she didn't enjoy seeing his joy, but she was worried that whatever she ended up finding wouldn't be satisfactory, and the last thing she needed was for him to get so disappointed again.

Emma never bothered mentioning her conversation with the mayor to Henry. Either the woman had flat out lied to her— which seemed to be the most likely option when Emma's lie-dar went blaring off in the distance— or Henry was dealing with some sort of strange imaginary friend. If it was the later, she'd be paying a long visit to that Dr. Hopper, so Emma's bank account severely wished for the mystery woman to be real.

Satisfied with how she looked in her white tank top and red leather jacket, Emma turned away and called out to Henry who was still seated on the couch watching his weekend morning cartoons.

"Be good for Mary Margaret, Henry!" she shouted to him.

The kid barely waved back, too engrossed in his show to be responsive even though it was past lunch time and he had yet to change out of his pajamas.

"Mary Margaret, thanks again for watching him. You sure it's okay? I know you didn't exactly intend to sign on for babysitting duty all the time when you offered your spare room up."

"It's fine," the teacher waved her off. "I have to grade these papers anyways, so it's not like I'd be doing anything else today."

Emma hoped she was telling the truth; the last thing she wanted was to feel responsible for making her new roommate miss out on yet another event just because she couldn't handle this whole single parenting thing without some help. Back in Boston, Henry usually spent his days in a daycare whenever Emma needed to work, but now that he went to school, she was learning that Storybrooke was severely lacking in the child care department. Plus, most five year olds don't get into the kind of trouble that requires their parents to sneak into the backyards of prestigious people to make sure the strange woman their kids are talking to isn't some sort of serial killer. Emma was pretty sure she wouldn't get any bad mother badges for having to deal with that, at least.

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure. In fact, I think I found something you might be interested in, Henry," Mary Margaret said with a smile as she turned to the kid. Luckily he had the decency to look up from the television with some level of interest.

"What is it?" Henry asked excitedly.

"I found this old book when I was going through some of my things. It's called 'Once Upon a Time' and it's all about fairy tales and royal kingdoms. I thought you might be interested in it. Your mom mentioned you like dragons, which I'm sure have to be in here if it's about fairy tales, plus there are lots of exciting pictures."

Mary Margaret could barely finish her explanation before Henry was bouncing off the couch and making a bee-line for her. "Can we read it?" he all but shouted out.

The pixie-haired woman laughed and smoothed some of his messy hair away from his eyes. "I suppose that can be arranged. It's on the dresser by my bed, can you go get it?"

Henry nodded eagerly before taking off like a bullet out of the room and slipping behind the curtain that separated Mary Margaret's space from the rest of the Swan-centric chaos.

"Thank you for that," Emma said, and she meant it. She already felt bad about telling Henry he wouldn't be able to go see his friend, so it was refreshing to know the woman watching him would be reading him a nice little story and keeping him entertained instead. The kid could use some attention from another person that didn't only exist with an ulterior motive for once.

With a sigh, Emma realized that she was procrastinating for too long and needed to get going if she wanted to make it to the Mayor's mansion at the same time Henry typically wandered over.

"Elsie!" she called, waving the little dog near. She happily bounded up, still nothing more than a moving ball of fur, and allowed Emma to clip the leash to her collar. Henry mentioned Regina had been fond of the dog, so she thought it might be nice to have a little ice-breaker on her side.

"Well, here goes nothing."

* * *

With Elsie happily bounding along beside her, Emma cut into the backyard of a neighbor a few houses down on Mifflin street, hoping to be discreet. There was probably something wrong with the town's deputy sheriff sneaking around into the Mayor's backyard, but she was investigating, even if it was an unofficial case that Graham would probably have her ass about if he found out. She just couldn't let the mystery go unsolved. Too many things weren't adding up, and her kid was involved, so Emma saw no other choice than to get to the bottom of it and see for herself just who this Regina was.

She followed Henry's instructions and came to the hedge, noting the broken branches towards the bottom that she probably would be charged for if Mayor Mills ever happened to notice them. Cringing, Emma protected her face with one hand and pushed her way through.

"Ahh!"

Emma's heart leapt from her body at the sound of a shrill scream, and she was sure she might just fall over into the dirt as she jumped back. Elsie yipped loudly, running around in circles and nearly tugging the leash right out of her hand. It was only after the shout turned into a gasp and a fit of coughing that Emma managed to ground herself enough to look up at the maker of the offending sound.

There, only a few feet away on a small bench, sat a woman matching Henry's description. Emma's first thought was,  _she's real,_ followed quickly by,  _holy shit she's gorgeous._

Regina had long dark hair that wove down her shoulders and pointed out at the ends with a slight natural curl to it. Even though she clearly lacked enough sunlight and appeared a bit pallid, there was no mistaking the rich tan skin-tone that encompassed her body. As she was bent over still gasping for breath, Emma could not yet see her face. The sound of the coughing was grating on her ears, though, and Emma could practically feel the pain of each ragged breath and expulsion.

"Shit, are you okay?" Without thinking much of it, Emma made her way to the woman and placed a hand on her back to try and calm her down. Elsie followed and made a beeline for Regina's feet.

She wasn't expecting Regina to jerk away so quickly, but the woman jumped beneath her touch and her gaze shot up to meet Emma's.

"I'm sorry." Emma held her hands up to her sides so the woman could clearly see where they were, because as soon as their gazes met, Emma recognized that look of terror and hated to be the one to cause it in another person.

Regina had curled into herself on the bench, her whole body wracking with the painful coughs, but her eyes still remained on Emma in question.

"Right, sorry, I'm Emma. Henry's mom." She smiled desperately.

So far, this was going very differently from what Emma had anticipated. She wanted to walk in, say hello and make sure this Regina didn't appear to be any sort of threat to her son, assess the situation, and walk away to be back in time for dinner. Instead, she scared both the other woman and herself half to death and careened her off into what sounded like an incredibly painful coughing spasm.

_Oops._

At her confession, Regina seemed to begin calming down, and Emma thought she might have even seen the beginnings of a smile curl on her lips.

Carefully, Emma approached again and pointed to the empty space on the bench. "Mind if I sit?"

Regina shook her head, just about ready to speak with her breathing under control again. Elsie, happy to have Regina's attention finally, allowed herself to be lifted into the other woman's lap where she easily settled and curled up.

"Sorry, again. I really didn't mean to scare you like that."

"It's fine," Regina said, and even though it sounded like sandpaper after her fit, Emma thought the tone was like honey and she wished she could hear it again, which was secretly fulfilled when Regina continued. "Henry has told me much about you. I'm very glad to finally meet you, Emma."

Emma didn't think that voice could sound any sweeter, but then she went and said her name, and now Emma was beginning to forget her purpose for coming in the first place. Regina's face was in view, so she took a moment to assess the woman with dark sunken eyes and a yellowing patch of bruise along her cheekbone. Somehow, Emma's eyes slid over that and gravitated to a small scar about an inch long above her lip; the temptation to reach out and touch it was overwhelming and came from seemingly nowhere, but she resisted with the decency to realize how utterly creepy it would seem.

Emma couldn't help but think that Regina was a beautiful woman, and suddenly her son's borderline obsessive interest in her made sense. There was almost a hypnotic quality about the way Regina's stare haunted her. Emma recognized something in there that had been happily missing since her childhood, and now that she saw it again, she wasn't sure she'd ever be able to look back.

Unfortunately, she was cut off from her staring when Regina cleared her throat and brought her back to the reason for her visit in the first place. Emma noticed she was mindlessly petting a very content Elsie.

"Where is he?" Regina asked. She looked around hopefully and pouted when her search came up empty.

"Who?" Emma asked, still entranced by the beauty before her.

"Henry. He said he was coming back today."

"Oh, right. Uh, listen." Emma skimmed a hand along the back of her neck, wondering how she was going to go about this now that she was actually here. "I know the kid can come on a little strong, and once he gets an idea in his head, it's really hard to deter him from it, so I want to apologize for the fact that he keeps coming here and bothering you after school."

"I don't mind, really," Regina was quick to say, only making this harder for Emma.

"Right, which is… sorry, you seem really nice and all, but it's weird. Henry is five and you're…"

"Thirty-four," Regina supplied.

Emma almost lost her train of thought again as she pieced together the numbers. Regina was six years older than herself, yet she still looked as though she could be several years her junior. She supposed it had something to do with the soft blanket wrapped firmly around her torso, or perhaps it was the way she kept watching Emma like whatever she said would disappear if she didn't capture it instantly. There was just a very strong childlike disposition to the beautiful woman.

"Yeah, exactly, which as I'm sure you can see, looks kind of strange to me."

This was definitely not going well. Emma wasn't sure if she was more interested in staring at Regina or in helping her, but telling her to stay away from her son was becoming increasingly more difficult by the second. Now, she was being met with a pair of tear-filled eyes and wanted to slap herself for being so inconsiderate.

"You don't want him to see me anymore?" Regina guessed, and damn if she didn't break Emma's heart just a bit.

"No, that's not what I meant," Emma quickly corrected. Only, it was exactly what she meant, so why all the back peddling? Confused by her own actions and all the thoughts tugging her in different directions, Emma finally just gave up and smiled with a shrug.

"Then what did you mean?"

"Just that, uhm…" Shit, now what? Her urge to keep Henry away was being quickly overshadowed by the urge to get rid of that sad frown on Regina's face, but she still had no idea what to make of that.

"I think I should get to know you better first."

Definitely not where she was supposed to be going with this, but Emma couldn't deny that the thought was sincere. Every time she looked at Regina she saw pain and remembered the other children in some of her foster homes who would look just like that. Knowing that Regina was so important to Henry made her reluctant to let the woman down, and now she was starting to see why he cared so deeply.

"Oh," Regina replied with a smile.

Emma felt her heart thud just a little harder at seeing the expression cross Regina's face. Despite her shallow cheeks and overall unhealthy appearance, the smile made her glow and sprout all across Emma's vision.

"Yeah, so, you know I'm Emma already, and whatever my son tells you— and if any of it's bad, I swear the kid just has an active imagination," Emma laughed, "but I don't know much about you. The Mayor's your mother?"

She noticed how Regina flinched and almost felt bad for bringing it up, but then the woman flashed her another tentative smile and tried to relax. "Yes, Mother runs things around here, I suppose," she mused.

"And you live with her?"

"Yes. I don't leave home much. Mother says it's not safe."

This Emma found puzzling, to say the least. After all, Storybrooke's biggest crime was Pongo's many fleeting escape attempts, and she figured the Mayor, of all people, would be more than aware of that. So, what Emma couldn't wrap her head around, was why a grown woman was too afraid to leave her home.

At first, Emma didn't know what to think. Was there something wrong with Regina? She shook her head, immediately silencing the use of "wrong" as it could never be fitting in her circumstances. People weren't wrong, just different, and Emma was quite aware of that fact. Regina was more damaged than anything, emotionally it seemed, and there may have been some sort of strange psychological things going on there, but there wasn't anything physically different about her.

"Interesting." Emma sighed.

She couldn't help but notice how Regina kept looking back at her house. It was a calculated and repetitive motion, almost like a tick.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"Hmm?" Regina questioned, tilting her head to the side with clear confusion.

"You keep looking back at your house. I just wondered if you were expecting someone to appear or something." Emma shrugged. She wasn't really interested in the idea of someone else coming to speak with Regina, and there was something unnerving about the thought of her time being cut short by what was obviously a highly anticipated visit.

Since when did she start getting hurt over losing the attention of almost strangers?

"No, there's no one."

"Okay. So you don't need me to go? I don't want to interrupt anything."

"You're fine!" Regina exclaimed, reaching out a hand to grasp Emma's upper arm as if to stop her from leaving.

The sudden movement caught Emma off guard. She should have felt violated that this strange woman found it appropriate to touch her and grab her in such an inappropriate manner. Should have, yes, but Emma didn't. Instead, she felt as if she'd been shocked, and they both jumped apart with matching gasps. The feeling was strange, different from static electricity, though that's what Emma opted to attribute it to.

"Sorry," Regina apologized, looking down at her hand and inspecting it curiously.

"It's fine."

Emma looked to her arm and, though it still tingled, saw nothing. Regina looked just as off-put by the feeling, so she shrugged and locked it away in her thoughts for later, sure there was some boring scientific explanation for the shock.

"I just didn't want you to leave," Regina admitted.

"Oh. Can I ask why?"

She hadn't been expecting such an answer from the woman who's attention she could barely hold for five minutes before she'd just turn to the house once again, but Emma could not help the fluttering in her chest at the admission.

The pink flushing blush that encompassed the petite woman's cheeks was one of the most adorable sights Emma could ever recall. For a moment, the color distracted from the deep sunken bags under her eyes, and she almost looked to be a perfectly healthy woman. Regina was impossibly more beautiful, Emma decided.

"It's silly."

"Hey, I know you don't really know me, but I promise I won't laugh if that's what you're worried about. I'm just curious."

"That's just it," Regina began with what could be considered a shaky laugh. She looked down at Elsie and scratched the pup behind her ear. "I feel like I already do know you," she confessed, blushing even deeper.

"Because of Henry?" Emma guessed.

"Yes, mostly because of him. He speaks of you quite a lot, you know. It's very endearing. I suppose I've been imagining you in my head when he does, and sometimes…" Regina trailed off.

"Sometimes what?"

Emma leaned closer, crinkling her brow in contemplation. There was something about Regina that she just couldn't place her finger on, but it was there in the back of her mind and on the tip of her tongue, running circles around her subconscious. She needed to crack the code.

"It doesn't matter."

Just as she felt that Regina was finally opening herself a bit, a wall shot up around her. She glanced back at the house again while coughing into her fisted hand. Seeing that she wasn't going to get anywhere should she keep pressing her for answers, Emma tried a new course of action.

"So, how do I compare?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know, to your imaginary version of me? Which one's cuter?" Emma asked cockily. She smiled brightly down at the other woman, hoping to bring her back once more.

The tiniest of smiles was spared for her attempt at humor, but it was enough to make Emma beam in satisfaction.

"It's strange, but I'd say you look just the same. Can that even be possible?"

"I don't know. Maybe you've seen me in another life," Emma joked.

Regina, unaccustomed to such open displays of humor, merely scrunched up her face in response. "There are other lives?"

"Who knows," Emma said with a laugh. "It was a joke. More likely than not, you just imagined Henry with blonde hair and boobs."

Regina even released a tinkling bout of laughter at this.

"Perhaps. I am glad to finally meet you, though. Henry tells me the best stories of the things you do with him. You must be an amazing mother."

Emma smiled sadly, thinking of all the ways that statement could ring untrue. She loved the kid more than anything, but how many times had she made him move to a new town? How many times did she struggle just to feed him? She always found a way on those occasions where life was hard for them, but Henry was never fully shielded from the struggles she went through. He was five and still knew how to tell when something wasn't right, and he usually could tell they were going to be moving again before she could even get the words out.

Emma thought back to right before they moved to Storybrooke. Henry had tried to hide his tears, but Boston was the first place he'd ever started to make what could be considered actual friends. She caught him sniffling while he packed up his stuffed animals into a box and convinced him to tell her what was wrong. That was the only time she'd ever seen him so much as ask for this to be the last time they left. He understood that they needed to leave for their safety, but he wanted to go somewhere permanent, where they could be happy together without running.

She had sat there and promised him that night that she would do her best to make sure he got a real home this time; that he wouldn't have to learn a whole new area and find new peers. Before it was just pre-school, so she never thought much of it, but now her kid was in a real school, and she was doing all she could to make sure he got to stay there.

But what if they had to run again? Already she was finding herself in sketchy situations with this Mayor. She didn't think she could handle the look of heartbreak he would surely try to hide if Emma had to tell him they were running again. Only a few weeks and already he was attached to several people, Regina at the top of that list.

Emma didn't think a good parent could even consider taking that away from their kid, yet she already had once after realizing he'd been lying and sneaking off. All of this was starting to make Emma feel like she was in way over her head.

"Emma?"

She was brought out of her thoughts by Regina's concerned tone.

"Sorry, I was just… thinking."

"You looked upset. Was it something I said?"

Emma sighed. She didn't really want to explain to Regina the pain her offhanded compliment had caused, so she just shook her head politely. She needed to remind herself that Regina was still a stranger. They didn't know each other, sans this conversation, and she couldn't just dump all her problems on the woman who clearly had more than enough of her own.

"No, you're fine."

"I'm glad. I like you, Emma. I wouldn't want to have offended you," Regina admitted sheepishly.

"You do?"

"Sure. You've been very kind to me, and I appreciate it. I don't know what all Henry's told you about me, but I'm glad that you came here, even if it was just to make sure I'm safe to be near him. I promise you, Emma, I would never hurt him. I just enjoy the company he provides. It's funny how it gets so quiet sometimes."

Emma wanted to ask what that even meant, but before she got the chance she could already see on Regina's face that there would be no answer to her question. She had hoped meeting the woman would solve all the mysteries that were Regina Mills, but apparently it only served to create more. There was something hidden in her, something dark, and the look was enough to make Emma form a nearly immediate attachment. She shouldn't be doing such a thing, she knew, but Regina sucked her in a little more each time she smiled.

Emma wished she could ask what haunted her so and take it all away. The foster system taught her quickly how cruel and heinous the world could be, and she knew the darkness so well it could be a mirror image in front of her instead of another woman. Perhaps something traumatic in her childhood that left Regina scarred could explain it all, and Emma needed to crack the code to get to that glimmer of space where Regina's smiles managed to sneak away from every so often.

After moments of silence between them, where neither woman looked up, Emma finally sighed and realized with a glance at her watch that it was beginning to get closer to dinner time. She would have to be going, despite her reluctance to so much as leave Regina's side.

"So, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the kid came by sometimes still."

"Really?" Regina's hopeful expression was enough to tell Emma it was the right choice. Besides, she wouldn't mind the excuse to come see Regina more herself.

"Yeah, I mean, you seem harmless, and it's totally safe here, right? As long as your mom won't mind." Just the thought of the Mayor made Emma shiver, and she couldn't help but notice the way Regina even flinched at the reminder of the dragon lady.

"Perhaps you were right, Emma. Henry really should be around children his own age," Regina suddenly said, looking back towards the house quickly and then down to her lap. It was such an abrupt change from her happiness only a moment ago that Emma had to wonder if she was still speaking with the same woman.

"Huh? But I thought you liked having him around? I don't understand."

"I do, it's just-"

"Regina!"

The sound of the Mayor's voice yelling from a few yards away made both women jump on the bench. Regina spun around, coughing again as she looked to the house and didn't remove her gaze this time. Emma wished she could sneak away, but it was too late. Cora was already at the door when she yelled out, and was now quickly marching her way over to them on the bench.

Elsie jumped up on Regina's lap, immediately barking and growling low in her throat in a manner that would have been intimidating if she didn't like look like a disgruntled pompom.

"Regina, it's time to go inside," she practically growled. Emma felt like she was watching a mother scold her child, rather than a grown adult talking to another, and the thought that Regina had to live with this was more than unnerving.

It also explained a hell of a lot about how she acted.

"Yes… mother," Regina managed to get out between her coughs as she left the bench. Emma stood to help her but was quickly cut off by Cora, who moved in to shield her body.

"Deputy Swan, I assume there's a good reason you're trespassing on my property without a warrant."

"Uh.." Shit. Emma really never expected that she'd get caught, and now that she had, she wasn't sure what to make of it. Rather than answering, she just watched the Mayor knowingly roll her eyes. Her hands clasped tightly around Regina's arms and dragged her in the direction of the house. Despite the kind words Emma was hearing come from the older woman's mouth as she "soothed" her daughter through the fit, Emma couldn't unsee the anger she was masking or the look of terror in Regina's eyes.

It was the same look that she had on her face each time she inexplicably glanced back at the house as if waiting for someone to barge out at any moment.

And suddenly that darkness in Regina's expression began to make sense in some twisted abscess of Emma's mind. She was afraid of her mother coming home, for some reason, and Emma now desperately wanted to know why. There was no doubt the mayor was a scary lady, but for her own daughter to be all but quaking in her seat, there must be something more.

"Deputy Swan, follow me," Cora barked, not even bothering to glance back to see if Emma was trailing after her. "And leave that mangy mutt out here."

All instincts told Emma she should run far away from the house of hell and never look back, but she also didn't want to leave Regina alone with the woman just yet, and she'd never learn anything just by standing outside.

She bent down and tied Elsie's leash to the bench leg, hushing the pup who still continued to bark at Cora with venom.

With a deep breath, Emma made up her mind and followed Cora and Regina inside. Almost instantly a chill ran down her spine as the back door took them into a kitchen. When Cora instructed her to wait there, Emma reluctantly obeyed, watching sadly as Regina was led out of her sight.

The deputy took the moment alone to glance around the house. She had been invited in, after all, so anything in plain site was fair game. Everything about the kitchen looked completely normal, if not overly clean and organized, but she was sure that was just more indicative of the Mayor's strangely obsessive tendencies than anything else. From where she stood, Emma could see nothing out of the ordinary, but that still didn't satisfy her desire to know what was going on.

Moving around was risky, even within the room, but Emma shrugged and began wandering around anyways. If the Mayor brought her in to kill her, she was pretty sure Graham would investigate when Mary Margaret told him where she was.

At the other end of the kitchen was another door. Emma gravitated toward it without much thought. The door appeared completely normal; it was made up of a standard wood, perhaps oak, and sat silently matching the rest of the woodwork in the immediate area of the house. The strange part about the door that stuck out to her was the set of various industrial locks that adorned it along the side. The room was presumably some sort of storage space, or maybe even a basement, but nothing Emma could think of would warrant so much serious protection.

Just as she was about to reach out and try the knob, unable to resist the temptation to know, Emma heard the clacking of heels approaching and stepped back.

"Miss Swan, if you're done snooping around my kitchen for a torture chamber or god knows what else you've managed to dream up in that small head of yours, come this way."

Ignoring the insult, Emma followed her down a hall, noting that Regina was no longer anywhere in sight.

They ended up in a pristine white office at the end of the hall, so lacking in personality that Emma wondered if people often entered or if it was just for decoration to have the room at all. She took at seat on the couch without being invited and watched as Cora narrowed her eyes at her before walking over to a drink cart.

"Can I get you a drink?" Cora asked, already pulling two tumblers out.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you're having is fine."

The Mayor handed her a glass filled with ice and an amber liquid quickly determined to be scotch. Somehow Emma wasn't surprised by Cora's taste in liquor and shrugged before taking a big gulp that burned its way down her throat.

"So, was there something you wanted to discuss?" Emma asked conversationally with a smirk from behind her glass.

"As a matter of fact, there is." Cora sat down on a chair across from Emma and crossed her legs regally. "You see, it seems you've met my daughter."

"Regina? Yeah, we talked a bit." Emma shrugged, waiting to see where Cora was going with this before bringing anything up herself.

"Yes, well, Regina is not all that she seems, Deputy."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emma asked, narrowing her eyes.

"It means that my daughter is very sick, Miss Swan, and it would do you well in the future to stay far away from her."

"Was that a threat?"

"Think of it what you like, but take from it that I'm correct in what I say," Cora fired back.

"Well maybe if you actually let her go anywhere she could see a doctor and you wouldn't have to worry about her sickness." Emma straightened up, glaring across from her just as firmly.

"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Dear. I wasn't talking about her endless cough— that's a fairly recent development that will pass. It's her mind, you see, that you should be afraid of."

Emma looked down at her scotch, suddenly weary of anything Cora might give her, and she lowered it from her mouth. Being poisoned wasn't on her to-do list for the day.

"Okay, I'll bite. What  _is_  wrong with her mind exactly?"

"Like I said, Miss Swan, my daughter is a very sick woman. Years ago she was locked away in this terrible place, an asylum if you will, but I couldn't bear to allow her to be put through such horror any longer once I realized what they were doing to her. It was only a few months later that the facility was actually shut down by the government, mind you, but I didn't want Regina in there for another second." As she spoke, Cora's tone remained calm and collected, and it was almost eerie how she spoke of the whole incident. It almost sounded like she cared.

"Then why did you put her there in the first place?" Emma countered. Something about this whole conversation wasn't sitting right with her.

"I had no choice. There was an incident, you see. My daughter, she… she had an episode of sorts. It was really quite tragic. She was out with her fiancé and just returned home to me one night, covered in his blood. My daughter wasn't in there at all, just some shell of a creature almost. Shortly after, the police came for her, saying they'd found young Daniel's body. Regina woke up and couldn't remember a thing, but was ultimately sent away.

"I felt horrible, locking my daughter up like that, but there was no other choice. They said she needed serious help, that she was very ill, and Regina was so distraught over hearing what had happened that she just sort of closed herself up. When I brought her back with me I was assured she was safe, that her medications should balance her out from having any more episodes as long as I monitor her closely. It's a shame, really. Prisons in America have become the new hospitals for mental illness. I thought Regina was lucky in being sent to that place instead, but I was sadly mistaken.

"She's not a violent person by nature, Miss Swan, but we still have no idea what happened that evening with Daniel. I still wake up to her screams in the night when she has nightmares of that place and the things they did to her."

Emma didn't know what to say, and she floundered around for her words for a moment before finally responding. "If she's safe now, why do you keep her hidden?"

There was something fishy about the whole story, like Cora had rehearsed it many times in the mirror to herself or simply read it off a TelePrompter. Emma's internal lie detector was merely swirling around her head in confusion, failing to produce any clear inclination one way or the other. Part of her wanted to search Cora's story for every hole imaginable, while another part was worried for Regina and wanted to do all she could just to help her out.

"What would the townspeople think, Miss Swan, should I let her run loose? You've apparently spoken with her. Surely you noticed there's still something a little off about my daughter? It's the death that still bothers her the most; she can barely function knowing what she did to the boy. I keep her here for her own safety, as I don't want her going out there so fragile and finding herself harmed. You understand, don't you, Deputy?"

Emma hated to admit it, but that did sound pretty logical once Cora explained it. If all that was true, Regina was clearly still a very vulnerable person. Throwing her into the public would only serve to harm her further, and the people would never look past the label "killer" before all but crucifying her. Hell, even Emma suddenly found herself getting nervous over the fact that Henry was spending so much time around her.

"Yeah," Emma mumbled, twisting the glass in her hands as she tried to process all she was told.

"Then I hope I can expect your discretion in these matters, Miss Swan? There's no need to alarm people with her presence," Cora asked formally, as if making a business transaction in the same breath.

"Of course. I wouldn't want to cause any harm to come to her."

"Very well. That's all, then. I suggest you get back to your family and your job now, Miss Swan. Next time I catch you on my property I may not be so lenient."

Emma wanted to laugh about the fact that she already felt as if she had been called to the principal's office, but refrained with the knowledge that Cora would likely never find her humor entertaining. She didn't think the stiff prick even knew what laughter was.

With a nod, Emma dismissed herself and followed Cora to the back door so she could retrieve Elsie on the way out. She knew something was a lie, but what she couldn't tell. Emma couldn't escape the crushing weight now put upon her with this knowledge. Was it even reliable? It all seemed fitting, and it even explained the woman's skittishness and her minor obsessive qualities.

As Emma walked away from 108 Mifflin Street, leash in hand, she chanced a glace back, hoping to see Regina watching her with no such luck. Of course the woman wouldn't be interested in anything Emma did. She probably only said she liked Emma's company because she was a voice actually willing to talk, but Emma was beginning to question even that.

But there was no denying how much she'd enjoyed the beautiful woman's company, or how content she apparently made Henry feel. There was no merging what Emma thought she knew and what she had observed in a way that cohesively fit, because as much as Cora's story made sense in the rational sense, it still lacked an explanation for that flash of fear Emma saw when Cora had appeared. She wasn't just afraid of something in her past, she was terrified of the oncoming storm. Leaving Regina behind had felt irrationally uneasy for her.

There was one thing perfectly clear— no one and nothing could be fully trusted. In the meantime, Emma decided she would definitely be telling Henry to stay away, just in case. No matter what was happening, she couldn't risk having her son caught up in it.

That didn't mean she planned on leaving Regina behind for good, though, or forgetting all she'd just witnessed. Emma needed to get her out of that house, somehow, but first she had a favor to call in and a story to check out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So so soooo? Now I get to be the impatient one. What did you all think?


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Incestousness... but no actual sex because this does actually have a plot.
> 
> A/N: I'm baaaaack. I so enjoyed reading your reviews of fear over what would happen next, seeing as I already had this mostly ready and knew what was happening. Have fun.

_Present: Storybrooke_

"Don't think I won't be back to deal with you, girl," Cora seethed before slamming the door, effectively shutting Regina away into the solitude that was her "bedroom" in the mansion.

The room was simple, decorated in dark colors and focused around a large bed in the center of the wall. There was a wall of books, allowed only so Regina wouldn't go mad whenever Cora left for work, and Regina was pretty sure she had read through them all at least twice.

With a heavy sigh, the young woman went over to her bed and flopped down, trying to pretend she didn't know what had taken place within those very sheets. She closed her eyes for a few moments of reprieve, just to process everything she just experienced, and for a moment Regina almost swore she could hear the faint sound of heartbeats. They came to her whenever she was in the silence too long, and once she'd even asked Mother about them, but she only explained it away as a side-effect of having been in the wretched facility for so long.

Trying to block the beats out, Regina turned her focus to the one good thing that came from the last twenty-four hours— A woman named Emma Swan.

Every time Henry so much as mentioned his mother, it created a warmth in her chest that was as much foreign as it was comforting, like a lost memory right under the surface. With her eyes closed, Regina could picture Emma's brilliant blonde hair and the way it shimmered under the sunlight. Henry's descriptions barely did the woman justice at all.

With an image in her mind, Regina couldn't let go of the fantasies that continually plagued her. Now they only seemed to come stronger, containing a more definitive face and filled with the woman's infectious laughter. Emma was so much light in contrast to her dark past, yet in Regina's mind she always stayed by her side, fusing day and night into one.

_This time, she was with Emma alone, no Henry around as per usual, and they were wandering side by side through some sort of forest. The location was unfamiliar to Regina, but then again, so was the look of pure joy she kept seeing etched across her own face. Was that really how Emma made her appear, or was this simply a wish gone too far?_

_Without Cora's constant surveillance, in Regina's mind, they were simply running around the trees, hiding to frighten each other and laughing all the while. She felt like a child again, enjoying her new playmate and protector. She tripped over a root that stuck out from the ground and whimpered when it hurt her ankle, but then Emma's hand reached out and touched it, making the pain disappear behind a golden glow._

" _Are you okay?"_

_Regina nodded, looking down at her ankle in wonder. How was it that the pain could just disappear with nothing more than a touch— like magic._

" _Good. Do you think you can walk back then?"_

" _What if I don't want to? What if I just want to stay here with you all day?"_

_She was rewarded with a bountiful laugh, and soon Emma was on the ground lying right beside her, blonde hair spread out carelessly in all directions, some even landing inadvertently on Regina's shoulder. The contact warmed her heart and brought yet another smile to her face._

" _Then, my lady, I suppose we'll just have to stay out here a bit longer, won't we?"_

" _Yes, I think that's best," Regina agreed._

" _But you have to tell me if you get cold, all right? I don't want you to freeze to death," Emma commanded, a smile still on her face despite the fact that Regina could tell she truly did mean what she said._

" _What about you?"_

" _What about me?" Emma countered, sighing lazily right next to Regina's ear._

" _Who's going to make sure you get inside?"_

_Again, Emma laughed, this time turning on her side to she faced Regina from the ground. Regina met the motion, rolling onto a twig so she could watch the woman's expressions as she spoke. A hand involuntarily reached out and pushed a strand of Emma's blonde hair back behind her ear, making the woman who seemed to be a physical embodiment of sunshine beam back at her._

" _It's not me I'm worried about," Emma answered softly. "I just want to make sure you're safe."_

" _Because you're the savior?" Regina questioned with her own deep chuckle._

" _No. Because I care about you."_

_Regina held her breath as Emma's smile moved impossibly closer to the point where she could feel the other woman's warm breath upon her own lips. Her mind swirled with confusion and joy all etched together, but the overall feeling of warmth won out as Emma moved in the rest of the way to close the distance with a kiss._

"Regina!"

Her eyes snapped open at the sound, drearily trying to place what was going on. Sometime during her fantasizing she had apparently dozed off, for now Cora was standing over her with an angry glare.

"First you're speaking with perfect strangers, now you're taking naps in the middle of the day? Honestly, dear, how do you expect Mommy to treat you like a good girl when you disobey me so openly?" Cora snarled.

"I'm sorry, Mother. I didn't mean to fall asleep," Regina admitted sheepishly.

When Cora moved from above her to take a seat on the edge of the bed, Regina allowed herself to sit up.

"I'm sure," Cora mused to herself. She reached out a hand, fingers crooked just enough to show her age with veins that poked out on the back of her palms just a little more than Regina's did thus far, and placed it against Regina's cheek.

"You foolish girl, what were you thinking? A woman like that doesn't need someone like you in her life. What if you had harmed her, Regina? Then what would Mother have had to come home and deal with? Do you even think?"

Regina felt guilty as Cora's words sunk in. She couldn't recall any recent breaks in her stability, but the thought always lingered in her mind. Mother only wanted to keep her safe, she constantly reminded herself. It was all for her own protection and so she couldn't harm anyone else.

She was the danger; she was the one at fault. Mother was the good that kept her under control.

"Could you really live with yourself if you made Mother go through that again?" Cora asked softly, her eyes almost tearing up as she met Regina's gaze, sucking her in deeper with every word.

Interestingly enough, she realized, Cora seemed to have no clue about Henry. Regina hoped it would stay that way, because as understanding as Mother may have been acting now, she knew her punishment was coming.

Then again, the words still rang true in her head. What could she have done to Emma or Henry? What if she'd hurt them like she did Daniel? Regina didn't think she could fathom living with herself, and Mother surely wouldn't be able to handle such horrors for a second time.

"No, Mother."

"Good, my pet," she purred, pulling Regina impossibly closer in her embrace.

"But what if Emma comes back?"

Cora's hand that was rubbing up and down her back almost soothingly stilled for a moment. The fingers she was so well acquainted with curled and pushed into her back, sharp nails digging through the fabric of Regina's shirt and piercing into the flesh. She'd have to check in the mirror later to see if any marks managed to stay behind.

Mother's mouth moved to her ear, breath heavy, as she whispered, "Don't worry, Darling. Miss Swan won't be returning."

Regina gulped, picturing all the horrors Mother could have used to threaten her away forever. This was what she'd feared most, that Mother would meet her new friend and take her away, removing any semblance of comfort Regina managed to get from the whole ordeal with her.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Well, dear, I had to explain to her who you were, otherwise she would have started asking questions around town, I'm sure. I don't want to imagine how the town would react should they find out I have you here. I just can't foresee the young woman choosing to spend any more of her time around a killer, Regina. That's an awful lot to ask of a perfect stranger," Cora spoke calmly, soothing Regina with each word.

_A killer. Right. Murdered Daniel in cold blood._ Even though Regina couldn't remember the night, she still felt a stab of pain more real than anything else whenever she thought of him.

Regina had never wanted Emma to find out, unable to bear the thought of that brilliant smile faltering even for a moment in front of her. She didn't want the light to go away so soon; not when she had just finally dug through the weeds to find it. But, of course, Emma would never want anything to do with someone so disgusting. Emma could never be near her like in the dream she had before Cora startled her away from waiting lips.

She didn't completely understand the mindless daydream. Mother would never approve of another's lips claiming Regina's, as they were solely hers, and for as long as she recalled living with her mother, Regina never questioned that. She never thought about denying the woman her stolen kisses, nor anything else, because Regina couldn't help the way she craved the comfort as well. She needed to repay Mother for protecting her.

But now, sitting here with Cora only inches away from her face, those familiar lips were not the ones she craved to feel upon her own. Emma was all she wanted, in any way she could have her, if only to continue feeling the light she provided. Emma would never want her in such a way— in any way— after learning her darkest truth. She'd probably stop visiting, never wanting to set sight on her sickening form again.

Henry would surely be banned from visiting her too, and that thought was enough to shatter her heart in half. In the short time, she had become so accustomed to his presence. Even just hearing about Henry's day was enough to fill her with a semblance of joy, and she clung to that in the late hours of the night when Mother got too tired of her body and drifted off to sleep, leaving Regina too numb to do anything other than stare up at the ceiling in quiet contemplation.

A kiss along her jaw pulled Regina from her thoughts, and she realized Mother was trying to gain her attention back.

"That was the right thing to do," Regina murmured sadly. "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Shhh," Cora shushed her, continuing her soft kisses towards Regina's mouth. "I know you don't, darling. It was cruel of them to taunt you like that, to make you think you could have those things. But you know, Regina, you don't need them."

"I don't," Regina reluctantly agreed. Her breath caught in her chest as Cora's lips hovered so close over her mouth, teasing her until she wanted it enough to close the distance herself. With the prospect of never seeing Emma or Henry again, all Regina desired was to get lost in someone's comfort, and Mother was offering it to her so openly and easily.

All she had to do was close the distance.

"Who do you need, Regina?" Cora whispered, locking her gaze in a fierce stare that instructed Regina carefully to the fact that she only truly had one permissible answer.

"You, Mother, only you."

Cora smirked, allowing Regina to close the distance as she pressed herself into Mother's waiting arms.

With a pant she pulled back, the need for air too great, and managed to husk out one more sentence before being sucked into Mother's comfort and pushed back onto the mattress with a dull creak.

"I need  _you."_

* * *

_Present: Storybrooke_

The whole way back to the apartment was spent with Emma running through possible explanations to give Henry in her head. All of them were equally terrible and likely to get her nothing more than a raised eyebrow in response and a demand for a better intel.

Damn kid and those irresistible puppy dog eyes.

First she thought of just telling him that no means no, and he would be staying away from Regina simply because she was his mother and made the rules. Even Emma had to laugh at the thought of how that would likely go. She highly doubted the kid would take her seriously if she tried.

Then there was the option of telling him the truth, which really wasn't an option at all. Henry might be mature for his age, but there's no way the kid could handle something so morbid. She didn't like the idea of her son having spent so much time near that woman, so even saying out loud that he could have been associating with a dangerous killer was too much. They would both be plagued by nightmares for weeks.

Henry was too young to know things like that could happen. She'd managed to expose him to so much more than she wanted thrown on his little shoulders over the years, but this was finally one of those things she could actually protect him from.

Then there was a happy medium that Emma could take and simply tell him that the Mayor didn't want them hanging around there anymore. It was technically true, and if Emma wasn't the one making the order, she wouldn't be forced to come up with a child-appropriate reason. Unfortunately, there was still the problem of her inquisitive five year old and all the questions he would surely ask everyone else. Convincing Henry that they needed to keep Regina a secret was going to be difficult enough.

Emma groaned and stomped her foot in the middle of the side-walk. She almost wished she didn't have to be the adult all the time. Then someone else could make the hard choices for her, and she could just go along with it. Emma, of course, had been acting as her own parent since she was just a kid herself, so the possibility of that changing any time soon was beginning to grow a little beyond unrealistic and into delusional.

But seriously, why did this have to be so hard? She could have sworn small towns were supposed to be simple places with happy people.

On one hand, Emma felt terrible for Regina in all of this. The woman had seemed truly sweet and genuine in her words, if not a little flighty and skittish. That was to be expected after spending so long living with a woman like Cora, Emma figured.

She kicked at a pebble with her boot, watching as it skidded along the sidewalk lazily in front of her. Elsie yipped and tugged on the leash, intent to chase after it.

Emma couldn't remove the image of Regina's pleading brown eyes from her mind, and the darkness that she kept glimpsing through them only made a stronger appearance in her memories. She wished she had asked after her, maybe even followed Cora to wherever she deposited the woman, but instead Emma had booked it out of there as fast as possible.

She couldn't imagine the pain Regina must have felt after killing her fiancé. Well, in a way Emma could. She certainly recalled a time when she wanted nothing more than that bastard Neal's head on a pike after he took off and left her alone and pregnant, but Emma figured that was a little different. Losing a loved one was never easy, no matter how many times it happened to a person, and to find out it happened at her own hand? Well, that was the worst curse of all.

Despite all this, and the fact that doubt was still niggling in the back of her mind as a result of Cora's generally lie-filled attitude about life, Emma couldn't help but feel shaken that she had gotten so close to someone so capable of causing so much pain. If Cora was being truthful, Regina was potentially dangerous. And the facility she had mentioned… Emma didn't even want to go there in her mind, finding it much too close to home for comfort.

How could she have been irresponsible enough to let Henry get near someone like that?

With a heavy sigh and a ton of guilt sitting on her chest, Emma looked up at the outside of the apartment building with the realization that she was home. The trip took less time than she had wished it would, as Emma's thoughts on what to say were yet to be placed together. Oh well, there was no waiting now.

Reluctantly, Emma trudged up the stairs and unlocked the apartment door, smiling at the sight of her son and roommate curled up on the couch together under a large book of fairy tales.  _At least he finally has something to get into_ , she mused, watching silently as Henry excitedly pointed at one of the pictures and explained something Emma couldn't understand to a smiling Mary Margaret.

Okay, so maybe she didn't have to worry about the kid being scarred for life after all. Henry remained completely oblivious to the turmoil in her mind. Emma just needed to relax and realize there was no way her son would find out what she had.

"Mom, you're back!" Henry yelled, jumping up from the couch and running at her full speed. Emma released an  _oof_  when his little body collided into her legs, but still managed to pick him up and spin him around in her arms. After the day she had, all Emma wanted was to hold his warm little body close and listed to tales of his dramatic kindergarten happenings. She was told it was all very important, after all.

There was no doubt in her mind that Cora's relationship with Regina was one filled with complications. The bruise stuck out so sharply in contrast to her skin, and Emma could never mistake the way she shied away from even the most innocent of touches. Even if Cora was truly caring for her daughter in place of having her locked away, Emma suspected there was still a very harsh side to the mayor that made its way out through bruises and cold glares.

Just because Emma never found that torture chamber didn't mean the place didn't still exist somewhere beyond that locked door.

Now Emma was almost certain that she spent far too much time for her own good around Henry's very active imagination. The Mayor might be a "dragon lady" for sure, but that didn't mean she came with a dungeon to boot.

"Hey, kid," Emma sighed, snuggling him into her side as she brought them both over toward where Mary Margaret still resided on the couch and sat down.

"Did you two have fun? You didn't wear Mary Margaret out, did you?" Emma asked, feigning a laugh to mask her unpleasant adventures in front of Henry.

"No, Henry was a perfect angel," Mary Margaret spoke with a laugh.

"An angel? Jeeze, kid, now I know she's lying," Emma joked.

"No she's not," Henry insisted, "lies are bad. 'Sides, I was a really good boy today."

"I see," Emma mused. "So I should take that to mean you were planning on using that to manipulate me into letting you have ice cream tonight?"

"Of course not, Mama." Henry spoke seriously, reaching out a little hand to direct her face to the side so she was looking him in the eye, a trick he had clearly picked up from Emma herself all the times she wanted to make sure he was listening to her carefully. "But if you're suggesting that I should get some for being so good, then I really can't argue with you."

Emma couldn't help it. She laughed so hard the boy ended up clutching her side with each burst of air from her lungs. Leave it to Henry to act completely serious while manipulating her into giving him ice cream in the midst of her internal crisis.

"I'm curious. What ice cream flavor is best suited for good little boys? Strawberry?"

"Yuck!" Henry dramatically blanched. "That's fruit. Ice cream isn't supposed to have healthy stuff in it," he said in his classic 'duh' voice. "We are supposed to have double chocolate chip, of course."

"Hmm, I don't know. That sounds like an awful lot of chocolate for such a little squirt."

"It's really not, I promise! Please, Mama."

"Well," Emma pretended to think, holding back a grin at the desperate look on his face while she sat in faux contemplation. "I suppose that would be all right…"

"Yes!"

"…if!" Emma continued, "If you eat all your carrots with dinner. Deal?"

Henry sighed and looked up with the puppy eyes that practically pleaded with her to not suck the fun out of everything, but there was only so much leeway Emma could allow before Henry lived off chocolate alone, which was definitely not a good idea. His energy from the sugar would probably kill her.

When Emma only stared back instead of answering, Henry sadly seemed to resign himself to his fate of carrots with dinner. "I guess that seems fair."

"Gee, thanks for the confidence in my parenting decisions there, kid," she joked.

"Anytime."

Henry smiled and jumped off her lap. She watched as he immediately scooted back next to Mary Margaret on the couch and reached for the book.

"Mama, you have to see this! I think we figured out the next step to Operation Cobra!" Henry exclaimed excitedly.

Great, just the topic she had been foolishly hoping to ignore.

"We?"

"Me and Miss Blanchard. Don't worry, I filled her in on phase one. Only, now I think we need to expand the mission."

"How so?" Emma asked, playing along before moving to sit beside her son and see the book he was frantically still pointing at. The page contained a picture of a young girl with dark hair that hung down her back in a neat braid while she stood beside a brown and white horse.

"Mama, Regina isn't the only one we need to save?"

"She's not?" Emma almost groaned. How many strange secret women could her son possibly meet in one town?

She looked up and met Mary Margaret's gaze over Henry's head, and the apologetic expression Emma received in response was less than comforting.

"Look at the picture, Mama."

Emma looked again, knowing it would satisfy him more than arguing that she'd already glanced at it. "It looks like a young girl and her horse."

"It's Regina. See, they even have the same name."

"Kid, I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Regina's a real person, not a fairy tale character," Emma explained calmly.

This only seemed to upset Henry, though, because he narrowed his eyes and quickly began turning the pages.

"No, see? She's not the only one. Here's Ruby, and this is Mary Margaret over here."

"Snow White and Little Red Riding Hood? Okay, kid, maybe more sugar tonight isn't the best idea, huh?"

"No, don't you get it?" Henry whined. Truthfully, she had no idea what he was talking about, other than the fact that some of the townspeople bore a striking resemblance to some drawings of fictional characters in a book.

"Henry, maybe you should show her the end of the book first. I don't think Emma understands where you're going with this. She didn't read the story with us, remember?" Mary Margaret tried.

"Oh, right." Henry took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Okay, Mama, are you paying attention?"

"You've got my full focus," Emma promised.

"So this," Henry said, turning a few pages and pointing to a woman dressed in dark clothes, "is the Queen of Hearts. She's really evil, and she killed Snow White's dad."

"Woah, what kind of book are you reading exactly?" Emma interrupted, and at least Mary Margaret had the decency to look guilty.

"I'm sorry. It said fairy tales, so I just assumed they would be a little less… dark."

Henry, for his part, merely rolled his little eyes between them. "I'm five, not a kitten. I think I can handle it. Besides, we have a much bigger problem. This woman is Regina's mother, Mama."

"In the book?"

"Well, yeah, but here too. She's the Mayor."

"See, I'll stop you right there, kid. There's no way the mayor can be the Queen of Hearts."

"Why not?"

"Simple. I think you would need to have a heart in the first place before you can be Queen over all of them, right?" Emma grinned smugly.

"No, but that's exactly it. She's the Queen of Hearts because she takes them from other people and uses them to get stuff. She even removed her own heart. See, Mama, it makes perfect sense!" Henry insisted.

"Okay, so some of the people around here happen to be made into the characters in your book. It happens. Lots of authors pull from the people they know in real life. What's your point?"

"This is different," he said stubbornly.

"How so?"

"They aren't just written about everyone. This book is real, and at the end, the Queen of Hearts casts a curse that brings everyone over to another world."

"And that would be… here?" Emma asked, starting to get lost in her attempts to follow along with his quick chatter.

"Yeah, only before the curse got casted, there was a profa… profass…"

"Prophecy," Mary Margaret corrected, ever the teacher even when she didn't need to be.

"Yeah, that. And it said that Snow White's baby, whose name is  _EMMA_ , is supposed to come 28 years later and break the Queen's curse and save everybody. Mama, your name is Emma  _and_ you're 28. It makes perfect sense."

"What does?" She still wasn't understanding where the kid was going with this.

"You have to break the curse. You're the savior!" Henry exclaimed, all but jumping up and down in his seat.

Emma couldn't help but laugh, finding this all to be some sort of cruel joke. She could barely save her pet goldfish as a kid, and Henry thought she was destined to save a whole world full of Fairy Tale characters?

"It isn't funny," Henry whined with a pout as he crossed his arms sternly across his little chest. Emma did her best to school her features for him.

"Well, Henry, it's just a book. There's no magic hearts or curses here. Just people. You know that."

"You don't believe me?" Oh damn, now the puppy eyes were out and quickly filling up with tears. Emma couldn't help herself from backpedaling as fast as possible.

"I didn't say that. I just… don't think you should be taking this story so seriously. Besides, I don't even know how to break a curse."

Henry, however, did not seem satisfied with this as an answer. Angrily, he jumped up from the couch and continued to glare at her from a few feet away. "Fine, don't believe me about the curse. But you still have to help everyone! You have to try. What about Regina?"

"What about her, kid?" Emma asked. She was quickly growing tired of this game. Henry always had an active imagination, yes, but she couldn't recall ever seeing him so adamant about something so impossible. It was unnerving, and after the day she'd had so far, Emma found her patience wearing thin.

"Do you even care about helping her? Did you even really go see her today?" Henry asked, tears beginning to leak from his eyes.

"Oh, Henry," Emma reached out to comfort him, but the five year old only pulled back away, effectively rejecting her touch. "Yes, I did go see her."

"Then you should get it. Regina needs our help."

"Henry, things are a lot more complicated than that. We need to stay away from Regina for now on." At the almost instant intensity of his tears, Emma wished she could take the words back and find a gentler way to explain things to him. It was too late now, and she had to deal with the child before her who was quickly losing control of his tears.

"You were supposed to be her friend," he said, heartbroken.

Emma bit her lip, contemplating the best way to explain this in his terms.

"I know. Regina is very nice, Henry, but she's sick. The Mayor doesn't want us going around there anymore, okay?"

"The Mayor? You talked to the Mayor?" Henry asked in exasperation.

"She, uh… kind of caught me in their backyard. And she wasn't happy about it, kid. Be lucky it was me and not you."

"Don't you get it? She's the Queen of Hearts. Of course she doesn't want you around! She knows you're the Savior and she is afraid you're going to break her curse! We have to go back, now!"

"Henry, enough!" Emma snapped, instantly regretting it when she looked up and saw the hurt flash across his little face. She could feel a headache swelling up behind her eyes, and his insistence was grating on it like a hammer. It wasn't fair to snap at the kid, and she wished she could take it back the moment the words left her mouth, but Henry was already off running to his room before she could get another word out.

Silence followed the slamming of the door, and Emma dropped her head down into her hands. Could this day get any worse?

"I'm so sorry, Emma. I really didn't think he would take the book so seriously. They just looked like little children's stories," Mary Margaret said after a moment.

"It's fine. You didn't know." She wished her roommate had never shown him the damn thing as well, but now it was too late. It wasn't worth getting angry over something that should have been so innocent. She peeked an eye out at the offending object. It wasn't anything more than a simple square brown book, a little frayed in the corners, but already it contained enough to send her five year old off on a rampage. She would have to read it later so she knew what he was talking about.

Emma had no doubt in her mind that Henry was nowhere near finished with this, despite his angry exit. She'd go talk to him after he got a chance to cool down.

"So," Mary Margaret began. "How'd it go with Regina?"

Emma groaned and flopped against the back of the couch, ready to divulge her day's adventures to her only adult sounding board.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert smiling kitten begging for your opinions* Hmm... I think next week needs to go back to the past a bit ;)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: HEAVY GRAPHIC VIOLENCE and torture. Mentions of rape. Seriously, be warned if you are squeamish. I loved writing this chapter (probably too much) but it is dark. Oh, and incesty stuff, but that was just a given, and if you're still reading this story, I'm assuming it doesn't bother you.
> 
> A/N: Thanks for all the support with this story! As promised, here is your very long flashback that should answer some questions, and my attempt to show more of Cora. A lot of you hate her in this, I have noticed, but to me there is a lot more to her and her relationship with Regina.
> 
> Happy reading!

_Past: Fairy Tale Land (10 years later)_

The years after the royal wedding dragged by.

Cora knew she despised men approximately five minutes into her first wedding night. With Henry things had at least been easier. She could keep him away, get him to bend to her will with nothing more than the slightest flick of a wrist in threat.

With Henry, she rarely had to fulfill any of her wifely duties, as neither was very interested in the other. He found his whores and Cora found Regina.

Leopold was different.

He was King, the man in power of all things around her, not one to act subservient in her presence like Henry would have. He would come into her chambers and take her when he pleased, less often than not, but it still left her feeling queasy. Cora always managed to bite down the bile and suffer through, knowing her daughter would be there to help her forget long into the night.

She would never let Regina know, but her presence was the most sought after part of Cora's days. She craved the hours where she could be in the room with another person who never questioned her, who always bent to her will and knew the threat accompanying disobedience was much too high.

Cora realized that without the threat of magic on her side, there was not much she could do about the King and his filthy habits or his daughter and her insipid questions throughout the day. She couldn't let them know of her magic when it was so integral to the overall plan, and the plan required time, meaning Cora would have to take on her role with a feigned smile and an underlying layer of bubbling hatred.

Regina was always there to handle her moods afterwards.

So for years, Cora held herself perfectly poised, smiled when expected to, fucked her husband when the slimy man shoved his drunken way into her sheets, and gritted her teeth through being forced to read Snow White stories before bed. Every night she reminded herself that it would be worth it, and every night she made it to morning without slaughtering them all thanks to the distraction Regina provided. She washed her mouth constantly just to rid herself of the taste of all the alcohol he consumed and often turned her skin red from scrubbing so hard.

Magic could be used to cleanse, but it never felt quite as fulfilling, and she could never quite get his stench off her skin or erase the feeling of his grubby fingers digging into her sides.

Finally one morning, when instead of the sunlight outside her window, Cora was met with the soft glow of hearts and a warm breath against her cheek, she knew the day to put an end to it all was finally upon her.

She was considerably older now than when everything had begun. There were tight wrinkles beginning to form around her eyes and lips, and though her breasts were often shoved together and shaped into perfect bountiful cleavage for the King, Cora noticed how they sagged more with each year that went by. She was a complete contrast to Regina's seemingly eternal youth, but jealousy rarely struck when she remembered the girl was only a sight for her own eyes.

And eternal youth may have been the wrong way to put it, as Cora certainly took note of the way Regina's body finished filling out into that of a young woman. Though her demeanor seemed frozen in time, she was a woman in her own right, making the nights spent together all the more delicious.

"Mmm… Mother?" Regina groaned as she began to stir against her.

Cora rarely allowed herself to stay until morning, usually preferring to sneak back into her chambers before the woman could awaken in her arms. There was something too comforting about the thought. Cora often told herself that she feared Regina would think she could get away with more, but truthfully, Cora was afraid she might like it too much. She couldn't afford to let the temptation of Regina's soft skin pull her in and distract from her goal.

She normally would have been angry at herself for staying, would have lashed out at Regina as a result, but Cora couldn't allow anger to take precedence over the fact that her day had finally come. It would indeed be a very excellent one.

"Good morning, darling," Cora whispered, smiling down at her daughter.

"You're still here?" Regina asked, half awake in Cora's arms.

"Just for a bit longer. Mother has a busy day ahead," she spoke softly and reached up to run her fingers back through Regina's long brown locks, enjoying the feeling of a few final moments of peace.

Soon there would be bloodshed, but she basked in the thought of the fulfillment it would grant her. For years Cora had been considering how she might go about it; a moment so special, so integral to her own freedom, deserved every bit of care and planning she could give it. His death was all she had lived for in the past ten years, all she had to focus her attention to when she wasn't near Regina.

There was meticulous thought behind her wait, otherwise Cora would have done away with the pig immediately after their wedding night. She needed the people to love her, to accept her as their Queen. She needed that little bitch Snow White to trust her with her very life, just to make it hurt that much more when she turned everyone against her. Everything would finally be worth it— the crude sex, the manipulations, the vile men who took from her over and over again, even the removal of her own heart— if she could finally envelope herself in the power she'd always craved.

Cora could almost taste her victory, it was so close, and together with her daughter she would reach it.

"Do you know what today is, Regina?" Cora asked casually.

The woman still contently wrapped in her arms immediately stiffened and turned to meet her gaze.

"W-what did you call me?"

"It's not very ladylike to stutter, Regina."

"Sorry, Mother," the woman said on impulse. Cora smirked, though, secretly pleased that her daughter had caught the intended slip. She had taken to calling Regina anything but her name in the past, having decided it was a name much to regal to be possessed without earning it first.

"I called you Regina because your punishment is over, darling. I wanted to test it out again to make sure it still fits, but if all goes according to plan, I believe you will have earned it back."

"Plans?"

"Yes, dear. You didn't think Mama would leave you out, did you? We've been waiting for this day for so very long, my love."

Seeing the smiled break out across her daughter's face filled her with a feeling of satisfaction. Part of Cora's wait had involved preparing Regina. She was never ready to take on her namesake before. Cora still remembered with distaste the way Regina would automatically recoil away from her and fight against the her touch. Now, ten years later, Regina initiated it most of the time. She wanted her just as badly. What had at one time been a means of control quickly became a bond; Regina would never break it, simply because she wanted to be a good girl for Mommy.

Cora had succeeded in breaking her daughter and reshaping her to be the woman she so desired, and now her pet was ready to be a woman again. She could sit by her side as Cora ruled and everyone would know Regina was her possession.

"What do you need me to do, Mother?" Regina asked quietly.

"I know how much it pains you to hear about what the King does to me. You hate the very thought of his hands touching where I let you touch." She paused and watched the way Regina openly cringed. "Today, Mother plans to put an end to him."

"You want me to kill the King?" Regina asked, her voice rising in innocent surprise.

Cora only could laugh darkly in response, quickly turning her daughter's panic into a look of confusion. "Oh, foolish girl, of course not. That's something I'm quite looking forward to doing myself. I have something much better planned for you, my love."

"Anything, Mother."

She smiled down at her kin, running a finger along that pretty little cheek that would soon be marred with blood.

"I want you to destroy Snow White."

The growl emitted through Regina's lips was positively delightful. She loved the hatred she could drag from her with the simple mention of the name. For ten years she had taunted Regina with Snow's freedom, knowing how it constantly ate at her and created a monster right before her eyes. Regina was practically created for his moment, and Cora couldn't think of a better way to make sure the young girl suffered than to make her see the horror she had caused in her final moments.

Regina's eyes took on that crazed expression she got from time to time that was a welcome change from her normally lifeless gaze. She could see the little wheels turning, that thirst for blood that ran through her mind over and over. Unable to resist it, Cora turned Regina in her embrace, pulling her close until their lips touched.

She could feel the rage practically emanating off Regina, and if she didn't need to be elsewhere in order for her alibi to work, Cora would have taken great pleasure in watching Regina finally squelch that thirst.

When Regina started to move her lips against Cora's and tried to wrap her arms around her, she pushed back and halted her. "Now, now, dear. There will be time for that later."

Regina whimpered, and it was weak, but she let it pass knowing it was out of desire for herself. She so enjoyed when Regina begged for it.

Slowly, Regina shifted her naked body against hers, moving so that she was still clinging onto her, despite the distance between their mouths.

"What will you have me do to her, Mother?" she asked almost hungrily.

"I want you to rip out her heart and crush it right in her face."

The sadistic smile on Regina's face morphed into one of confusion, but before she could ask, Cora reached out a hand to touch her lips and effectively shush her.

"I know you don't have magic, darling. Don't worry. I can enchant a glove that allows you to remove one heart. All you have to do is put it on, reach in, and pull."

Regina smiled and curled into her, snuggling her face into Cora's neck contently. Cora couldn't resist pulling her fingers through Regina's long hair once more, and when light kisses began to trail along her neck, she could only sigh.

"I suppose I have time for you, darling, since it is a special occasion. I'm assuming you have no questions about what I'm asking you to do?"

"Just one," Regina husked between her hurried kisses.

"What would that be?"

"What do I get to do with her body once I'm finished?"

* * *

Entering his chambers was the easy part.

She may have been vastly ignored in comparison to him, but Cora still knew how to work people to her favor. No one dared to question the Queen. She could come and go all throughout the castle as she pleased, so the King's chambers were no exception. However, on this occasion, it was crucial to not be spotted for one very specific reason.

She waved a hand over herself, still inside Regina's chamber, and transformed into a mirror image of the younger woman, only with clothes covering her body in place of Regina's very nude form.

"Mother?" Regina questioned.

"Don't worry, dear. No one is going to see me, or in this case I suppose it's you. I just want to give the man a little scare first. Will you be all right going to Snow once you've gotten dressed?"

"Yes, Mother."

"Good. Then I shall see you tonight, my love." With a final kiss goodbye, Cora transformed herself away in a cloud of purple smoke that dissipated once she was inside Leopold's bedroom chambers, looking just like her long "dead" daughter.

Disgusted by the sight before her, Cora sneered. He was stretched out on his back under some whore, fucking her right in front of Cora's eyes.

"Pig," she spat, moving in on them. Before the girl could halt her movements and turn to look at her, Cora swished her fingers and turned her into a fly. At least she had the decency to flee out the open window.

It took the old man a moment to come to his senses and realize what was happening. One moment he had a beautiful young girl riding his dick and screaming his name, the next he was sprawled out naked and exposed, looking up to find a stranger staring down at him with disgust.

"What is the meaning of this?" he yelled, but to no point. She has already prepared and cast a silencing spell over the chambers, and they knew not to disturb him when he had a guest. "Guards!"

"Hello, Your Majesty. Remember me?" she purred, slowly stepping closer.

"I… I don't know, I… why is no one coming?" The panic was quickly seeping from his eyes to cover his entire face. So much for the regalia of the royal family. The pig couldn't even look composed to meet his own death.

"Because, you don't like to be disturbed while you're being fucked, remember? And it won't matter. None of them will see me anyways."

"I don't understand. You look just like…"

"Like who?"

"Regina. The young girl who sadly-"

"Died?" Cora guessed, loving the way panic began to set into his face.

"Yes, but you can't be her. Ghosts aren't real," he stated.

"Aren't they? Do you even know what you've done to me? What you've made me see every day of my afterlife?" She growled, getting closer to the point where she was almost sitting on the bed with him. Cora refrained from moving closer to his still exposed private parts.

"I had watch you fuck my mother, over and over again, and I don't like it. I don't like how you treat her like a toy while you get drunk off your filthy liquor every single time just before you force your way into her bed," she spat.

"I don't know what you mean. The Queen is my wife, and her duty is none of your concern, evil spirit. Be gone!"

"Oh, I don't think so, dear. I have much better plans for you."

"Like what?" he gulped. She noticed how he subtly began to quake in his spot, and a timid hand finally reached out to cover his manhood with a sheet.

"Well," she cackled, and in an instant Cora was engulfed in yet another cloud of purple smoke. This time when it cleared, she was herself again, and the terror that his face took on was absolutely worth every second of the ten years she waited for this very moment.

"Hello, dear." With a wrinkle of disgust, Cora realized that he wet himself when the sheets around his waist began to darken, and though it filled her with nausea, she found it quite fitting for his final moments.

She had twisted and manipulated at every turn, worked her way into his life, and she'd hidden her magic so effectively that he had no idea his wife was anything other than a devoted woman content to sit by his side. Oh, how wrong the thick-minded man could be.

Now, after all had been done, she was finally at the tipping point that was easily the most awaited of all. She couldn't wait to watch the life drain from his sick little eyes when he realized he wouldn't even be able to protect his precious little Snow. What a shame.

"Cora? You have magic?" His shock quickly grew to anger, and in a moment there was a hand around her neck that threatened to crush. "What is the meaning of this?" he bellowed, spittle flying from his mouth and hitting her in the cheek.

The King's face turned red with anger and humiliation, but Cora didn't even flinch. She knew, after ten years, that the disgusting pig may have many repulsive tendencies, but violence was never one of them. He couldn't hurt a fly— which was humorous to Cora as she recalled what she'd just done with his long-gone little whore that he fucked right under her nose.

"The meaning," she calmly explained with a low husk, "is that I'm sick of waiting for you to just drop dead, old man. It's time I took your life into my own hands."

"You'll never get away with this."

"Won't I?" she drawled in amusement, pulling out of his grasp easily. "I'd say I will. I have before. I even fooled little old you, didn't I?"

Realization clouded his face and he looked upon her accusingly. "Your first husband and daughter… you're the one who killed them?"

"Not quite." Cora smirked, still satisfied with how she had chosen to end the life of her first husband. "Regina is still very much alive. In fact, I think she should be paying a little visit to Snow right now."

"No. Don't you touch my daughter, Cora!" he yelled. When Leopold tried to get up from the bed, she simply yawned and magically strapped him back down with the sheets that tied around his hands and ankles.

"Now, now, dear. Is that any way to treat the Queen? I thought you would make this easy on me. I am getting older in my years, you know. I'm not always up for such a fight. But, if you insist."

Pleased, Cora waved her hand and tightened the sheets. They lifted off his body the rest of the way and dragged each limb out closer to a headboard, ripping and pulling him in four directions at once. His saggy skin sank into the bed, and the yellow spot where he'd soiled himself stuck out against all the pale white. Angered, Cora squeezed her fist and had the sheets pull tighter. His painful cries were simply musical.

"Much better. Now, where was I? Oh, right. On what my daughter is doing with yours at this very moment. They did have a lot to catch up on, you know."

"Where has she been all these years if she's still alive?" Leopold asked.

Again, she squeezed her fist and he was pulled harder. This time there was a cracking sound, and she could see where his arm was literally ripped from the socket, leaving it limply attached to his body by nothing more than muscle, tissue, and skin.

"She's been here, right under your nose, Your Majesty," Cora sneered. "You've just been too busy to notice."

"If she's hidden, how would I have known, witch?"

Cora laughed and squeezed her hand once more, sighing at his scream of pain.

"Who exactly did you think was leaving those delicious bites along my hip? It certainly was never you."

The upper half of his face grew impossibly redder for a moment before her words seemed to infiltrate into his mind and he realized what she was implying.

"You disgusting crow!" he yelled, visibly blanching at the thought.

"What. At least she paid attention to me. As least she didn't pretend she was fucking her dead wife every time she touched me. She never got drunk and called out the name of someone else. Eva! Eva! Well guess what? Eva isn't here anymore, but you sure will be joining her soon. I'm sure she'll have a lot to say to you now. And your darling Snow… soon you'll all be reunited." Cora finished with a beaming twisted smile.

"Why are you doing this?" he managed through gritted teeth, the pain probably becoming too much. Cora squeezed her hand and tightened them further.

_Crack!_

This time it was his left leg, and she could see where it shattered at his knee. Any tighter and she figured the skin might just tear with it. Already Cora could see the way it stretched against the misplaced bones, getting tighter around the area where the disconnect had taken place. She considered pulling again, just to see what would happen, but thought better of it. He wouldn't last forever.

Blood would only make this an ugly scene, and Cora wanted humiliation more than anything.

An idea struck her, then, of exactly what she could to do to make this worse for him. Since the man was still conscious, holding on by whatever force was keeping him interested in the fate of his precious little Snow White, this would only hold more satisfaction for Cora.

Magically, she tore a piece of rope off the edge of one of the curtains in the room, and used it to tie a knot around his genitals, the other end hung loose in the air by magic. Sure it would be sturdy, Cora began to tighten it, watching how the blood pooled in his member as she tugged and a scream louder than any she'd ever heard tore through the room.

"Much better," Cora purred, only wishing she had thought to do this sooner.

She despised his dick more than any part of him; it was what the pig used to consistently defile her. Every time he dominated her, for ten years, Cora counted. She didn't know why at the time, but she counted each and every pump that he thrust into her carelessly. Several times she'd been left to magically heal herself, knowing he'd never notice because of the sheer fact that the pig never paid any attention to what was happening to her down there. He didn't care. He just wanted to fuck her and leave before the sun could approach the skies.

Now, she had the upper hand, and she was going to enjoy every single ounce of tension that yanked on his member just as he had thrived on every thrust he rammed into her.

"I suppose I can't play much longer, hmm? It's a pity. Soon I'll have to discover your body in here. And then, only then when I'm in the sight line of half the palace, dear little Snow will be vulnerable and alone just waiting for my daughter to finish her off."

"You're a monster," he squeaked out, barely conscious any longer.

"Perhaps. But at the end of the day, I'll have your throne and your life, and there's nothing you can do about it. Being a monster may just have its perks yet."

With a lasting grunt, Cora squeezed her hand so tightly that the rope pulled and dismembered him. The fallace went flying through the air past her head, blood spurting out in a spray, and it was in that moment that Cora saw the face of a truly destroyed man.

It was that moment that made every day of those ten years of hell worthwhile.

Realizing that her game was all but done, Cora moved in closer and leaned over his chest.

"Any final words?" she whispered sadistically.

"You will pay for this, Cora."

"I wouldn't be so sure. I'd say red suits me quite well."

With that, Cora finally shoved her hand into his chest and wrapped her fingers around the pulsating organ. She tugged and it was out of his body, hovering in her hand right in front of her face. The old man's heart was nothing spectacular. As beloved as his people may have viewed him, Cora was best acquainted with his dark side, so the blotches of black scattered throughout came as no surprise to her. All the same, the color of a heart never matter that much to her.

They always looked the same as dust.

She squeezed and watched with pleasure as it cracked apart. With that taken care of, Cora brushed her hands together to remove any remaining particles from them. She had one more thing to do, one little touch that was all too personal and necessary.

Carefully, Cora walked over and found his bloody member, still severed limply on the ground with the rope around it. With a disgusted sneer, Cora lifted the offending object up with two fingers, watching as the rope slid off the end and into the ground.

Holding it out far in front of her, Cora made it back to the dead King's side and forced open his mouth with her other hand. Like before, with her first husband, Cora shoved the end of the penis into his mouth and closed his lips around it.

She was, after all, very much a believer in happy endings.

* * *

Several minutes later, Cora was magically back in her chambers and cleaning herself off. The time to "discover" his body was upon her, so with a final look in the mirror, Cora stalked out her door.

In a matter of minutes she had made the short trip to his wing of the castle, and it was with a winning fake smile that Cora greeted the guards outside his door. Her visits to his rooms were not frequent, but they happened often enough that Cora knew it wouldn't arise any suspicion from the royal guards. That had, after all, been her intention all along.

The thought of what Regina was preparing to do elsewhere in the castle gave her shivers of joy. This would soon all be over, and Cora would get to finally take her throne without being forced into the man's subservient wife's role.

Cora was not to be dominated by anyone, and she felt nearly sick in her stomach to even consider having gone another day doing so. She would surely celebrate with her daughter tonight.

"Is my husband awake? I wish to speak with him," Cora commanded, halting outside the closed door as was custom. Really, she knew it was a way of asking if he had any women with him. Normally they would have told her he was not awake yet, but as Cora had carefully timed this around the switching of the guards, she knew they would be completely unaware of the little whore she turned to a fly only a short while before. Of course, that wouldn't stop the others from piecing together the whore's presence as being the only one during the hour of the King's death.

"Allow me to check, Your Majesty," one of the guards spoke, turning to open the door and peer inside.

"As you wish." Composed, Cora stood carefully and watched the man's face for any hint of change. Surely enough, the moment his eyes set on the sight, she could see the panic course through him. These two men would likely end up put to death for not protecting the King on their watch, but oh well. She couldn't protect everyone, and really, why should she care? They were all replaceable numbers.

Instead of allowing her in, as they usually would, the one guard motioned for the other one to look into the room, and they quietly conversed with each other.

"Is there a problem?" she asked calmly, doing her best to act disinterested in whatever idle gossip they might be sharing in front of her.

"Uh, Your Majesty, I don't think you should go in there," the one guard said. She could see how his face whitened, almost to a sickening green shade, and she was sure he would lose the contents of his stomach at any minute.

"And why not?" she asked in a commanding tone that left no real room for arguments.

"Because, uh… I don't think this is something a lady should see."

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I know all about the women my husband sees. She can take her leave and come back when I'm finished with him." With that, Cora shoved her way past the men, careful to hide her smirk until she was facing away. There, on the bed just as she'd left him, was her former husband, the King.

"Guards, I do believe you should start calling for help instead of just standing there gawking," she drawled, turning around calmly to face them. "It appears my husband has been killed."

The final touch, which she had agonized over, was really quite perfect. Not wanting to so much as utter a fake tear over the pig, she had come up with an alternative. Carefully, so as not to land on anything too sharp, Cora allowed her eyes to roll up into the back of her head and she fell to the ground with a dull thud.

* * *

When Cora "awoke" later— thanks to some magic she was able to take a little nap while having been "passed out" from the sight of her dead husband— it was not to the sight nor the level of chaos she had initially anticipated. Hovering above her was none other than a very distraught looking Snow White.

A very  _alive_  Snow, at that.

Cora's first realization was that Regina had messed up. Had she gotten caught? Was the entire plan foiled, her part in the King's death known? Maybe that could explain Snow's tears. She tried to sit up, needing to think, but a firm hand pushed her back down when she drew the attention of the princess.

"Shh, Cora, don't sit up. You've fainted, I don't want you to do so again," Snow said gently, reaching out a hand to stroke Cora's cheek. She wanted to sneer that she didn't want anyone but Regina to touch her there, but refrained until she knew more of her current situation.

"Snow, what's happened?" she asked, deciding to play innocent.

At this, the girl's face crumbled again, and she burst out into heaving sobs that left her burying her face into Cora's side. She realized then that she was back in her bed chambers, having been moved away from the scene of the crime, and she was alone aside from one servant with a bucket of warm water and Snow, who was perched at the side of her bed on a chair.

"Father is dead," Snow managed between sniffles, and Cora held back her grin at the knowledge that at least that hadn't changed.

"I… I think I remember. I saw him?"

"Yes." Snow sniffled and picked her head up from the mattress. "That's why you fainted. The guards wouldn't let me see, so I came here to wait for you to awaken. I can only assume it must have been quite horrendous. Are you all right?"

Nearly baffled by the kindness she was getting, Cora almost forgot for a moment that she had just lost her husband, and that Snow likely didn't know she was responsible for that as she'd initially thought.

"Do they know what's happened?" she asked quietly, hoping to gain some information.

"No," Snow shook her head sadly. "The guards swear they never allowed anyone to enter the room, but the men on post before them recalled my father entering with… uhm…" Snow trailed off and looked down at the ground.

"I know all about your father's scandalous affairs, dear. No need to spare me."

"Right." She could tell the young woman was still clearly quite bothered by the knowledge that daddy would fuck around with a bunch of cheap whores. She truly was far too naive for her own good.

"Does that mean she was responsible, then?"

Snow furrowed her eyebrows, now looking entirely too confused. She leaned in closer, apparently not wanting to be overheard by any prying gossips, and spoke softly into Cora's ear. "I don't know. That's just it, they said she was gone when you found him, like she just disappeared right out of thin air. The Blue Fairy thinks magic was involved."

At this, Cora's interest was definitely piqued by the distraught girl.

"Magic?" she gasped. "Is there any way she can trace that?"

"No," Snow said sadly. "I've already got the captain of our armies sending out troops to search, but no one seems confident. It's like they're searching for a ghost. There's just no trail." Her sobs took over again there.

Cora clenched her teeth but still managed to reach out and pat the girl on the head, running her fingers through tangled black locks like she had earlier with Regina, whose missing presence was still quite a mystery.

"There there, Snow. You helped me through the loss of my own family. We'll get through this," Cora comforted, hoping the sincerity made it past the bile in her throat.

* * *

It wasn't until later that night that Cora finally managed to get Snow to leave her side. Alone in her chambers once more, she went through her nightly routine before making her way into the heart chamber. As no mention of an attack on Snow was ever brought up, she only assumed that something had held Regina back.

The sight she was greeted with was far from what Cora expected. Regina stood only feet away from the entrance, just staring at the invisible door.

"Regina?" she barked, snapping the woman out of some sort of trance. When Regina turned to look at her, eyes filled with terror, she continued. "Why is Snow White still alive, dear? I thought you wanted her dead."

"I… I do, I…"

"Use your words, Regina. A lady never stutters," Cora sneered, glaring as she still waited for some sort of explanation as to why she had been forced to endure the insufferable girl all day.

"I couldn't get past the door."

"What do you mean? I took the barrier down for you. It should have been simple."

"I don't know what's out there, Mother. I couldn't do it."

The answer was nearly robotic, and it took a minute, but it finally clicked in Cora's head that she meant she had never even tried. Just the thought of leaving had left Regina all but paralyzed with fear.

"Oh, Regina," Cora sighed dramatically, moving to push her daughter back further into the room.

She was disappointed, to say the least. This was supposed to be their big moment together; Regina would finally be released from her hobble of a place and allowed back into the world under Mother's supervision, but here she was, still unable to leave even when the motivation was all she had been hoping for during the past ten years of captivity.

Regina really was such a disappointment to her plans.

"I'm sorry, Mother," she said while sitting down on the bed, no emotion in her tone.

"Don't," Cora barked. "Clearly you weren't ready. It was foolish of me to think you may have learned anything, but you're just as much of a disappointment to me as you were ten years ago, Regina. You couldn't even walk outside your chamber. How much weaker can you get?"

Cora was bent over, seething her words right in Regina's face to let her know just how low she was. All of her hard work was for nothing if Snow was still alive. Now she would have to take care of the girl herself, and with the intensive security after the murder of the King, that would become next to impossible for her to accomplish anytime soon without drawing too much suspicion.

With a glare, Cora turned from Regina, not so much as rewarding her with a touch. She couldn't bear to be in the same room with her. How could she have allowed such a disgraceful girl to bring her joy for all those years, when she couldn't even be brought to accomplish the simplest of tasks?

Regina would never be able to rule at her side if she was too afraid to leave the room. She'd kennel trained her daughter too much, Cora realized, and knew it was at least partially her fault. She should have worked harder to make her feel trapped; perhaps then she would have been more willing to leave when given the chance. Instead, Cora had let Regina take her thoughts over with kisses, and she had rewarded her for good behavior when she should have been punishing her for the bad.

That would soon change, Cora decided. She would never again allow Regina's silky skin to trick her into spending the night, to looking so soft. Regina thought she could get away with such disobedience, but never again would those thoughts be permitted to grace her mind.

If Regina couldn't handle being an adult and going out into the real world where she'd have all the power she desired, then Cora would just have to continue taking care of her like this— as a pet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? I actually have to start writing some of it after this *gasp* because we are nearing where I stopped in November, but I'll try to keep my update speed the same. Also, if you survived this chapter, I'm so sorry. But not really.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that this chapter is a little shorter than usual and, after much deliberation, does not have the big Swan Queen scene at the end. To be honest, it was just getting too long and it would have taken me longer to get this update to you (yay college). The good news, however, is that because it is going to be so long, I have decided to just make an entire regular-length chapter out of it. If inspiration strikes and classwork can be procrastinated, I will try to get that up to you in a few days. So, yay, no Swan Queen now but a lot to come!

_Present: Storybrooke_

When Emma was finished explaining the events of the day to Mary Margaret, who only looked sufficiently shocked for a few moments before processing Emma's words and coming to the conclusion that she was doing the right thing by staying away, Emma figured enough time had passed to go and talk to Henry.

With a sigh, she knocked on their shared bedroom door and waited for a response. When all she got was a muffled "Go away!" Emma twisted the knob and entered the room.

At first she didn't see Henry anywhere, which worried her, and had she not just heard his voice she would have suspected he ran away again somehow. Then her eyes settled on a small lump under the comforter on her bed, and it took everything in Emma not to laugh at Henry's hiding abilities.

For a kid clever enough to evade her for a week and continually sneak off to see a mysterious unknown woman, he sure was pretty naive about where people could see him. It warmed her heart during moments like these, when Emma could see just how much a little boy Henry really was. She was still pretty sure Henry operated under the assumption of, if I can't see them, they can't see me, but for the sake of having shorter games of hide and seek she had yet to bother correcting him.

With a smirk, Emma looked down to the floor where the puppy Elsie was quietly sitting and staring up at the bed.

"Hey, Elsie," she cooed, dropping down to pick the puppy up. The little black fur ball only yipped happily and stretched up to lick her face. With a grossed out frown, Emma held the dog a little further away so the eager tongue couldn't reach her. Henry might have been okay with being licked to death, but Emma saw some of the things that little pup tried to eat and wanted no part of that on her face.

"Where has Henry gone, girl?" she asked, exciting the puppy immediately. She began to wiggle in Emma's arms when they approached the bed, so Emma set her down on top and let her scamper around the big lump that was Henry, clearly trying to find a way to get to her favorite little boy. It only took Elsie a few moments to locate an opening in the blankets, which she quickly burrowed under and began to bark loudly.

"Elsieeee," Emma heard from under the blankets, causing her to laugh. She could just imagine the little puppy had quickly located Henry and began to shower him in kisses for being gone so long.

"All right, kid. I know you're down there. Wanna come out?" Emma tried, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

When Henry didn't bother moving, other than to shift slightly under the covers, Emma sighed and placed a hand on top of the lump her son had temporarily become.

She rubbed back and forth a few times, hoping to entice him to come out and talk to her, but all Emma got in response was a little bump suddenly making it to the top and pressing into her palm through the blanket. Silly dog, Emma mused.

"I just want to talk to you, Henry. You know I don't like to fight anymore than you did, and I'm sorry that I yelled at you."

Still nothing, so Emma decided to just keep speaking and hope that the kid was at least somewhat listening to her. It wasn't the first time Henry had retreated into himself like this, and usually she was able to drag him back out rather painlessly.

"Look, I'm glad that you found something you really like with Mary Margaret, but I'm really worried about you, Henry. You know as much as I do that books aren't real," Emma tried.

This time she got a little head to poke out from the end of the blanket, hair tussled in every direction and face red with dry tears.

"Not all books," Henry whispered, looking at her sadly.

"Hmm?"

"I said, not all books. Remember that book we read together about Abraham Lincoln? He was a real person. Just because he was written as a story doesn't make it any less true."

Emma sighed, realizing her son's resilient attitude would be harder to crack than she had initially thought.

"Okay, you're right. But even if the book is about these people, Henry, you know there's no Evil Queen out there with a curse. I mean, these people don't look very cursed to me. Mary Margaret seems pretty happy with her life and job here. And Ruby talks about wanting to leave, but I think she really enjoys spending so much time with her Granny. Just because people live differently here than in the city doesn't mean they have to be cursed," Emma explained calmly.

"But the book says…"

"That there was a curse, I know," Emma said with a sigh. "And I think maybe you're right. The characters could all be based off the people here in town. I bet some local author just wrote it and the whole curse thing, well that's just a metaphor, kid."

Henry wriggled out from under the covers a bit more but still didn't approach her. "What's that mean?" he asked with a scrunched up face.

"Uhm, basically, it just means that instead of writing about people's lives, the writer used them as characters to make some sort of point. Like, he calls it a curse, but what he really means is that the people around here live like a small town, which is different than the rest of the world. Like, you think the Mayor is this wicked Queen of Hearts, but they just call her that because she's in charge of the town and not very nice, not because she really has powers. It's just to make the story more interesting, I suppose. It exaggerates. Does that make sense?"

"Kind of…" Henry trailed off, looking down at his hands. She could tell he still wanted to say something, and though Emma dreaded what sort of contradiction that kid would probably come up with next, she wanted to make sure Henry clearly understood that this was all just a story.

The last thing she needed was her kid going around to all his new classmates claiming there was some sort of curse, and demanding that they were all other people. There would be no brighter glaring light to indicate a need for therapy than if something like that were to happen, and while Emma wanted to help her kid out if he ever truly needed it and wouldn't hesitate to, that wasn't really something within her budget range at the moment.

"What is it, Henry? I can tell there's still something working around in that mind of yours," Emma said with a smile. She reached out a hand to brush some of the wild hair from his eyes and was relieved when he didn't move away. At least his anger seemed to have dissipated for the moment.

Henry still looked hesitant, but at her nod for him to go on with whatever it was, he opened his mouth and decided to talk. "Well, even if you're right— and I'm not saying you are— how did Regina end up in the book?"

Well, that's not where she was expecting him to go with this, but it was a start.

"Like I said, the characters are just of the people in this town," Emma tried to explain, but she could see from Henry's face that her answer was far from satisfactory.

"But no one around here knows about her, remember? Only us and her mom. So how did she end up in the book if it's not real?" Henry asked stubbornly.

Emma meant to shoot him down with a clever retort that would put this whole book fiasco to rest once and for all, she really did, but it clicked in her mind that what he was saying made perfect sense. How the hell did Regina end up in the book?

During her talk with Mary Margaret, she had examined the book a bit better. The teacher was helpful in pointing out the main story he seemed to be taken with the most, and Emma almost laughed at how much the characters really did look like the people around. It was, as she had told Henry, entirely possible that a local author just published it and based his or her characters off the people of the town, but how did Regina end up in there if that was the case?

And the weird part that Emma couldn't seem to get her mind past was that Henry actually made sense. Regina was unmistakable, even had the same name, which strangely set her apart from the rest. Why would the author never go about changing hers when the rest were clearly at least attempts of masking their identities.

Of course, there was still the chance that it was all a coincidence, and Emma Swan may have fallen for that explanation if she actually believed coincidences were possible— which she most certainly did not.

"Henry," Emma began, "what exactly does Regina's story say anyways? I only had a chance to skim through it downstairs."

Henry smiled brightly at her and Emma soon realized her mistake, but it was too late to do anything about it. The kid thought this was her way of joining his side and believing in the whole curse thing, which Emma knew had to be impossible. Something weird was definitely going on, and as deputy it was now her job to check into these things, but magic hearts and curses were just a bit too far fetched for Emma's mind to process. Whatever crimes were happening Regina were entirely of this world, unfortunately.

"Well, according to the book, she was supposed to marry the King, Snow White's father, but then she disappeared one day because her fiance Daniel killed her," Henry explained.

Again, what the hell kind of book had her kid been listening to all day?

"You mean she killed him?" Emma corrected, thinking back to Cora's story in her office earlier.

Maybe this whole thing was a case of blackmailing. If one person found out about Regina, it could quickly spread across town. Emma felt the pit of her stomach sink uncomfortably, and suddenly she understood Cora's apparent fear of letting her so much as leave the back yard.

"No." Henry shook his head quickly, apparently put off by Emma's assumption. "Regina would never hurt anyone, Mama. Why would you think that?"

Emma didn't really have an answer for Henry; not one that she could tell him at any rate. Truthfully, Regina had seemed like a rather kind-hearted person. A little strange certainly, but she could see why Henry trusted her so openly. Had she not had the conversation inside with the Mayor, which still wasn't settling right in Emma's stomach, she never would have thought anything of letting her son see the woman he called a friend occasionally.

But according to Cora, Regina had killed someone, and Emma knew enough of the horrors of reality to know even the least suspect person was capable of horrible things. If Regina had some sort of mental break that caused her to act irrationally, nothing could be done to undo that, and she definitely was afraid it could happen again when Henry was around.

But how the hell was she supposed to explain that to a five year old?

"No reason," Emma tried, but she could tell her kid wasn't buying it. "I just thought that's how Mary Margaret started to explain it downstairs," Emma lied.

Henry still looked at her wearily, trapping Emma in the lie, and for a moment she cursed herself for having such a great lie detector skill that had been passed on to him.

"I know you're lying to me. I promise I can handle whatever it is, Mama," Henry begged. She knew the kid hated being lied to, but there was still no way he was getting her conversation with Cora out of her.

"Look, Henry." Emma sighed, trying to think of a way to explain this to him through her frustration with the entire situation. "I met Regina, and you're right, she was very nice. But Madame Mayor talked with me, and I'm sorry but you're not old enough for this conversation, so you're going to just have to trust me that I don't want you to keep visiting her right now, okay?" Emma could feel the tears prickling at her eyes, the buildup of her day weighing done on her, but Henry seemed to notice them and sigh.

"Fine," Henry said sadly. She could tell her words were at least finally getting through to him, even if he wasn't happy about it. There was none of his sudden topic-switching that he did when he thought he could get away with something, at least.

"But I still don't understand how Regina's in there."

Emma really wished she had an answer to his question, but instead she just looked at him and shrugged. "I'm sure there's an explanation we just aren't aware of, kid."

"And I don't get how she's alive. In the book, Regina's fiance killed her, but here she still lives with her mom."

"See, exactly!" Emma said, jumping on the first plausible explanation she had found. "It can't be all true then, because Regina's definitely very much real and very much alive. Okay?"

Henry seemed to think on this for a moment before hesitantly agreeing. "So the book is missing some of the story."

Okay, not the agreement Emma was hoping for, but it was progress.

"Yeah, I suppose so, kid. So we shouldn't worry ourselves with all this curse stuff. There could be some details left out, and maybe it doesn't even exist anymore."

"Or maybe it does and you have to break it," Henry countered smartly, matching Emma's raised eyebrow with one of his own, and damn if the kid didn't have to be just as stubborn as her sometimes.

"Why can't you be one of those kids that get afraid of monsters and believe me when I tell you the closet is monster-proof like everyone else?" Emma asked with a short laugh.

"Because monsters aren't real. Duh." Henry rolled his eyes. "Except dragons, but those are cool. Hey, Mama, do you think the people in the Enchanted Forest have pet dragons?" he asked excitedly.

"Oh, of course. I bet everyone does, Henry," Emma said flatly. The kid grinned back at her, which was definitely an improvement from his earlier anger at her.

"Good, because if you're Snow White's daughter, that makes you a princess. I bet when the curse breaks we'll have a whole bunch of dragons."

Emma could only laugh; of all things for her son to get excited about, it would involve his complete fascination with dragons. She allowed herself to flop down the rest of the way onto the bed next to her son, careful to avoid hitting the puppy while she pulled him into her arms and began to tickle him, the shrill sound of his laughter practically music to her ears at this point.

"Mama, stop!" Henry said between his giggles, and when she finally did slow the movements of her fingers, they both laid there staring up at the ceiling out of breath.

"Henry," Emma began, looking over at him. Her tone was serious because she wanted this to stick, and to be honest, she was starting to find herself a little caught up in all of Henry's curse talk, which was more than unnerving.

"Yes, Mama?"

"You know, even if all this curse stuff is real, it will break on it's own, right? If something is meant to happen, it will. So you don't need to go around telling everyone about this…" Emma trailed off and bit her lip. She didn't want to flat out tell the kid that people would probably think he was crazy, but she also didn't want Henry putting himself in any dangerous situations over some silly fascination.

"That's where you're wrong," Henry informed her matter-of-factly.

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"The books says that you have to kiss her. Maybe you should speed things up and make that happen sooner than later, just in case."

Emma floundered for a response; something along the lines of, you're five that the hell are you doing telling your mother to kiss a perfect stranger, or, why the hell would you think I want to kiss a woman when we definitely haven't had that talk yet, but she refrained and just continued her gaping.

"Mama, I'm five, not stupid. Regina is really pretty and you get that look that you always give Ruby when you think nobody's looking whenever you say her name."

"Woah, okay, we need to talk about some of the movies I'm letting you watch later. But until then, kid, I can't just go kissing people. Something tells me Regina won't appreciate your curse reasoning, real or not."

Henry frowned and seemed to think for a moment while Elsie made herself known by hopping up on top of him and walking across the boy's ribcage, causing him to groan as the little paws dug into the sensitive organs.

"But you do like her?"

"I…" Emma was at a loss for words, wondering when exactly the conversation had gone from curses to this. She had thought the whole fairy tale thing was bad, but now that her love life was coming into question, she really wished to direct it back. "Henry, I just met her once."

"So? You loved me the first time you saw me," Henry countered.

"Okay, kid, definitely not the same thing. I don't love Regina, I don't even know her."

"But…" Henry looked at Emma expectantly, causing her to sigh.

"But I guess she is pretty. That still does not mean I have any intention of going back there, let alone kissing her, young man! Regina is different. She doesn't need us complicating her life any more, huh?"

Henry sat up and pulled Elsie into his lap for a more comfortable position on the bed, but Emma stayed down and looked up at him from her spot on the pillow.

"Okay, but it's true love's kiss, Mama," Henry insisted.

"You said I'm the supposed child of Snow White and Prince Charming, right?"

Henry nodded.

"Then obviously I'm the product of true love, so I just sort of… spurt it out everywhere," Emma reasoned, and Henry's smile said he was okay with this assumption. Now if only she could convince him that the whole thing wasn't real.

That didn't even seem likely at this point. Maybe he'd grow out of it before high school.

"So you'll go kiss her tomorrow, then."

"Wait… WHAT?" Emma sputtered, looking at Henry like he had two heads. How the hell had the kid gotten that from their conversation?

"Well, you can break the curse then!"

"Henry…" she whined.

"And if there is no curse, then we'll know when nothing happens. It's just the next phase of Operation Cobra."

"We're still doing that?"

"Of course. I thought you wanted to help Regina?"

Emma thought on his question for a minute, chastised herself for having such a smart kid at the most inconvenient moments, and frowned. She did have an inexplicable urge to see her again, if nothing else, just to see that she was okay. Emma still couldn't shake the feeling of dread she'd felt when Cora dragged her off to who the hell knows where, and those locks on the basement door were far from standard security.

One little visit to see that she was okay wouldn't exactly hurt so long as she made sure the Mayor wouldn't be around, which should be easy seeing as the woman stuck to her schedule tighter than the buttons on those shirts she often wore around the diner.

When Emma realized that she was even considering paying the woman another visit after how terrifying the first had ended, it occurred to her that this was largely because Henry was right— she did care. She cared more than she liked to admit, actually. Not because she was in love with some perfect stranger like her son seemed to think, but because she had looked into those dark eyes and saw something familiar, something painful, and it was a look she hated to see on such an innocent face. At the very least, she could go and hear Regina's side of the story before making any rash judgments.

"I do," Emma finally admitted, so quietly she almost didn't hear her own words. Henry did, though, and his smile grew tenfold.

"Great, then Operation Cobra Phase Two shall commence."

"I am not going to kiss her, kid."

Henry frowned and looked ready to protest, but Emma held up a finger to silence him.

"But you're right, I do care, so I'll go talk to her on Monday when I know the Mayor is at work."

No sooner were the words out than Henry's arms were being wrapped tightly around her, pulling Emma into a tiny little bear hug. "Thanks, Mama. And if you wanna do any curse breaking while you're there…"

Emma laughed at the kid's insistence. "I will put on my best investigative hat and see if I can get anything out of Regina. You said the book says she'd dead, right? Maybe that means she secretly knows something about it. After all, if she's still alive, who knows?"

"Right. We have to be careful and make sure the Queen of Hearts doesn't find out about Operation Cobra, anyways. You'll have to be sneaky, Mama."

Emma wrapped her arms tighter around his little body and pulled him in closer, smushing her face down into his wild and desperately in need of a brush hair to inhale the comforting smell of her boy's vanilla shampoo.

"You got it, Henry. We both do, okay? Nobody outside this room can know any more about Operation Cobra. Not even Mary Margaret, got it? We can't have anyone getting onto our curse breaking."

Henry nodded eagerly, and both laughed when a small yip from Elsie was emitted in confirmation.

She wasn't sure that allowing his fantasies about the curse to go on was a good idea, but so far it just seemed like a childish way of worry. Emma realized that she should probably be thankful that Henry had only picked up on this and not the signs of abuse all over Regina. He just wanted to help her, so as long as it remained positive, she could play along for a little while.

Emma only worried about the day when the obsession might still remain, but for tonight, she would let the kid have hope for his Operation Cobra over the harsh reality of real life. She'd already made him endure too much to take this away now.

"So, about that ice cream, Mama…"

* * *

_Present: Storybrooke_

First thing Sunday morning found Emma Swan on the phone to a contact she had back in Boston. Before taking any extreme measures, Emma wanted to make sure her suspicions about Cora's story were correct. The fact that Regina was legally permitted to live freely with her mother instead of being placed in another institution was puzzling on its own, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd encountered such a thing in her line of work. Unfortunately, there were a lot of holes in the system sometimes, and it was no secret that Cora was a very influential woman when she wanted to be.

True, people were sometimes released if no longer considered to be a threat, but Cora had acted as though there was still a chance Regina was.

Emma was aware of the little known asylum in the basement of Storybrooke's hospital. A man, Sidney Glass, had been recently arrested and placed there only days before Emma came to town. She only knew because the paperwork had shown up on her desk for a second checking before it needed to be turned into the Mayor.

So, with that place in existence, why wasn't Regina living there? There was something missing, a key piece of evidence that Emma couldn't quite place her finger on. She asked her friend to run a background check on both Cora and Regina, as well as any crimes with convictions matching the descriptions. Her mind was running everywhere from Cora breaking Regina out and harboring a fugitive to a very elaborate human trafficking scam.

The later idea seemed unlikely, seeing as Regina resembled her mother enough for Emma to believe they truly were related, but it wouldn't be the first time she'd seen something like that happen in her life either.

With Joey on the case over in Boston— he owed her a favor anyways, so she didn't feel so guilty asking for something in personal business— Emma took to her own devices. Her laptop had been her best friend for years, always serving its purpose when it was needed to track down a perp. She was also fairly skilled with searching online after having years of practice trying to navigate thousands of results on a search engine.

The first thing Emma did was check for any shut down institutions that matched Cora's description. There was one, but it was in Florida, and upon some further investigating, Emma saw that it had only shut down after suffering sink hole damage.

Emma had spent time in jail, which was why she found the thought of Regina being in a place like this so strange. Sure, they existed in some quantities still, but more often than not, people suffering from mental illnesses that were convicted of crimes ended up in prisons and jails like everyone else. Treatment and expenditures were being taken away from those trained to help and given to officers trying to deal with an unpredictable variety of people. There was no opportunity to focus on them there, no way of making sure people continued to take their medications after being released, and it turned into a cycle of hospital-like cell blocks with the same recidivists over and over.

There were explanations Emma could come up with at every turn, yet only so many far-fetched scenarios could possibly fit into one story. The real halting point that jolted Emma was when her search for any other possible place turned up nothing. It was unlikely something like that wouldn't make it into the news, so Emma felt one of her lie detections become quickly validated.

The second moment that set Emma's nerves off was when her friend called her back several hours later. No records were found for a Regina and Cora Mills, which wasn't entirely surprising in itself. Getting a fake ID and an alias could be just as easy as buying a bag of chips. She had anticipated this and asked for any similar descriptions, maybe even of missing people if they had just up and left, but every possible thread quickly became eliminated the longer they talked.

By the end of the call, Emma was nearly positive that no such murder had ever occurred. With no record— court or news— and no crimes matching enough to fit Cora's story, Emma was at a dead end.

Or, she thought, she had just caught Madame Mayor in her own lie. And if she was lying about Regina's presence, then she was probably also lying about her safety, and there was no way Emma could sleep knowing she allowed it to go on any longer.

With a shaking hand, Emma reached for her cell phone and dialed a familiar number, knowing what she had to do.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Abuse mentions
> 
> A/N: Well, it is finally done! This semester is basically kicking my ass, so don't expect me to be any faster for the next month unless I get really lucky. You have, however, your promised super long Swan Queen chapter-- the longest one yet! Enjoy!

Come Monday morning, Emma was pretty sure she never should have promised Henry that she would go see Regina. More importantly, she wished she hadn’t done all that investigating and promised herself that she would. This was definitely a bad idea in and of itself, and the risk of running into the mayor in the process was enough to have Emma ready to turn and run on her heels.

She had always heard Pennsylvania had some semi-nice areas, perhaps he wouldn’t mind moving there for a few years. That would definitely be far enough to get them away from the wrath of the Mayor after she figured out Emma was directly disobeying her and entering her property again. There was probably something ironic about the sheriff’s deputy trespassing on the Mayor, but she could spend time musing over that later.

After her talk with Henry, Emma had stayed up most of Saturday night reading through his book— skimming in some areas as she was never a big reader— and she had to admit, the kid was pretty spot on with some of what he was saying. The idea of a curse sounded so insane, so crazy, but she could see why he found it so convincing.

The Regina thing still made no sense, though. According to the book, she should be dead, and perhaps it was just an explanation the author used to account for her sudden disappearance, but Emma was fairly certain that the Mayor had always lived in Storybrooke, yet none of the citizens had any memories of Regina, and her search the day before had turned up nothing on either of them.

There was definitely something suspicious going on, and Emma really didn’t like the looks of it. Henry could call it whatever he wished— a curse in this case— but the reality of what was happening was dark in nature, and she couldn’t stand the way it made her skin crawl ever so slightly, just like it had at every particularly bad foster home she’d grown up in as a child.

Approaching the Mayor’s home, Emma knew this would be her last chance. She had teamed up with Ruby, not saying why, but making her promise to text Emma when the Mayor entered and left Granny’s, just in case she should decide to make a quick stop home. She knew she would probably owe the waitress an explanation later, but she still had time to come up with that. For now, Emma needed to make sure the woman was all right, or at the very least, see her again just because Henry had made her realize just how much she strangely wanted to.

“Okay, Swan. You can do this,” Emma mumbled to herself. She sent off a quick text in preparation, hoping her plan wouldn’t implode on itself. She was nervous with each new person she involved, but this one had seemed necessary to getting Regina away from the house. Emma parted the bushes aside enough to peer through and check for the presence of Regina. Sure enough, there she was, perched on the bench with a melancholy look on her face as she gazed out across the yard at that beautiful apple tree.

Emma braced herself, leaving one more chance to turn and run, before she took a breath and pushed through. She stumbled slightly as her foot caught on a root, nearly face-planting in her typical Swan-like grace, but luckily her reflexes were quick enough to gain some balance and only cause minor pain to her ankle.

“Hey there,” Emma smiled in embarrassment. Regina jumped in her seat, considerably less violently than the last time, and finally gave Emma a thin but worried smile.

“Hey.”

“Mind if I sit?” Emma gestured to the bench with a smile.

Regina looked at her nervously and fluttered her hands about the edges of the blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders, as per usual. Biting her lip, Regina finally nodded her permission and moved over a bit.

Both were silent as Emma took her seat, refusing to meet each other’s eyes through the awkwardness of the moment. Unlike last time, there was an uncomfortable air between them, as too many threats and stories of horrors hug in the air like smokestacks.

“You shouldn’t be here, Emma,” Regina finally whispered.

“Why’s that? Are you going to hurt me?” she asked just as calmly.

Regina was silent for a moment again, and Emma allowed her the time to contemplate and work through the answer herself. Emma wasn’t sure if she was aware Cora had discussed their dark past with her, but a quick glance up showed Emma that no shock had registered on Regina’s face.

“I don’t know,” she finally answered.

“Do you want to hurt me?”

“No.” Regina was more firm with this reply. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t. No one is safe with me, Emma.”

“Do you honestly believe that, Regina?”

Any response was cut off by a wet, rattling cough that sounded so painful it made Emma wince. She realized, though, that no answer was coming even after the fit had subsided, and wasn’t entirely sure she was ready to hear whatever that answer may truly be.

She hated to look at people and see a big flashing sign that read “Broken.” In the foster homes, it was one she was well accustomed to getting, and it had always unnerved her. She wasn’t broken, she didn’t need fixing, she just needed someone to give a shit about her. Pity never helped anyone, though it certainly made a lot of them impress upon themselves how wonderful they must be for noticing her sadness at all.

Despite this, it was difficult for Emma not to look at Regina and see the sharp pointy shards of a shattered being.

Once Regina was finished for the time being with her wet hacking, she looked up at Emma with watery eyes.

“Jesus, what has she done to you?” Emma whispered, more to herself than to Regina, who barely reacted to the question. Tentatively, Emma stretched her hand out towards Regina, much like one would with a scared animal. Regina watched it carefully as the fingers hung limply before her. There was a nervous flinch for a moment, but then the brunette nodded just slightly enough for Emma to see it, and she took the movement as permission to go forward.

Still moving slowly so as not to frighten Regina, Emma moved her long curly brown locks away from her face and tucked them behind her ear, making the yellow bruise still lining her cheekbone more prominent. Emma met Regina’s eyes dead on while she gently slid her fingertip alone the outline of the mark.

“Did she do this?” Emma asked, though she already knew the answer.

Regina broke their eye contact and looked shyly down at her lap, mumbling an answer into her chest.

“Please look at me.”

With a heavy sigh, she looked back up under hooded eyes. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing. You’re hurt, and sick. I think you need to see a doctor, Regina,” Emma explained softly.

“That’s not necessary.” She bristled into herself, leaning away from Emma’s hand. “It’s just a cough.”

Emma rolled her eyes at the stubbornness not unlike that sometimes exhibited by her son.

“And a fever,” she pointed out, having felt the warmth on Regina’s face when she fixed her hair.

The brunette merely frowned at this, sniffing while she said, “That’s your opinion.”

“What gives, hmm? Last time you acted like sugar melting in tea, now you’re giving me the cold shoulder.” Emma frowned. Had she been too quick in assuming Regina was as comfortable with her as she let on? Had coming back been a massive mistake, one that Regina did not want to involve herself in at all?

“Did it occur to you that perhaps I want you to leave,” Regina replied snappily.

“That I figured. The question begs, though, why you want me to suddenly leave.” Emma sent her a cheesy smile, hoping it would help break the newest wall down.

The little half-smirk she received in response wasn’t exactly a winning answer, but it was progress, which made Emma feel better about what she was going to do. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

“I wasn’t aware one needed to provide a formal reasoning to get someone off their property.”

“Regina…” Emma groaned.

The other woman sighed, some of her resolve finally lowering a bit. “You know why I don’t want you here, Emma. Or rather, you know that I very much want you here, but that you shouldn’t be here, and I would rather keep you safe than benefit myself. I don’t deserve any sacrifices from you of that nature.”

“Actually, it is kind of my job, so I’d say you’re perfectly entitled to me risking my life for you— which I am not doing, because you aren’t going to hurt me,” Emma stressed pointedly.

“Oh, of course.” Regina frowned and looked back down at her hands. Emma noticed she hadn’t glanced back at her house once, and she wondered why that was. Despite the way she was acting, there was something dead inside Regina; she didn’t appear to care what would happen to her at this point, and that was the most worrisome factor Emma had discovered about this woman yet. Regina should damn well care.

Emma considered her words, and why they may have caused such a sad look to encompass Regina’s face. “You know that’s not the only reason I’m here. I’m here because I care about you,” Emma expressed warmly. She wanted to lay a reassuring hand on Regina’s shoulder, but thought better of it. Without knowing what all Cora had done to her daughter, she didn’t want to risk overstepping any lines and possibly putting Regina into a triggering situation.

“Like I said, I’ll be fine. Please go before she gets back,” Regina pled.

The look of resolve in her eyes told Emma she needed to do two things, move faster and change her game plan. It sounded a lot easier in her mind than she knew it would be, but Regina was worth it, and this was a now or never situation.

Never wasn’t really an option, though, so it was more a _shutthefuckupandsaveheralready_ kind of deal.

“What do you remember about what happened with your fiancé?” Emma blurted out, trying a new approach.

Regina did visibly shudder at this, but she did not move away again. Instead, she crinkled her brow in the most peculiar yet amusing way.

“Do you remember anything? Even what happened before or after?” Emma tried again.

Regina’s confusion turned into a frown. “Of course I do. We were out, I killed him, and I was locked away in that horrible place,” she said matter-of-factly, as if it wasn’t something Regina often questioned.

“Your mom said you blacked out and couldn’t remember it. Did you get your memories back?”

“N-no.” Regina’s frown deepened and she shook her head slightly back and forth.

“Then how do you remember what happened?”

“I just do.” Regina’s frustration was growing more apparent, to the point where Emma was preparing to back off the obviously sensitive line of questioning, but then she realized that the frustration was not being directed toward her. Rather, Regina seemed to be battling with herself, her mind, and it was something she would need to work through on her own if she had any hope of being helped.

“Because your mother told you it happened?” Emma guessed.

“No… I mean, yes she has… I mean…” Regina groaned, face contorting into full concentration.

“Are you sure it even happened, Regina?” Emma smiled reassuringly, hoping her support was fully conveyed, no matter what answer she received.

“Of course I am. I’m dangerous, Emma. I need to be punished. I need to pay for what I did. I must be a good girl.” Regina was rocking herself now, the words coming out at mumbles clearly not meant for Emma’s ears. She couldn’t let Regina block her out, no matter how much talking about this would hurt.

“There’s no police record of you or any murder that matches Cora’s description, nor is there an institute measuring the description she gave me.”

Regina’s confusion turned to anger at this, and she leaned in so that her nose was almost close enough to bump Emma’s.

“Are you saying that none of it happened to me? That all the pain and torture I endured was not real? Because I can assure you Emma, those nightmares haunt me constantly. No mind would ever invent such horror as a sleep aid.” A shallow form of anger reared its head, drowned mostly in pain at her interpretation of Emma’s words.

“I’m saying that I don’t know what’s going on here, but I do know your mother can be very persuasive if she wants to be, and I do know that you need help, and mostly I know that you don’t seem like the kind of person who would ever kill another person.”

“Just because I want to know you, and I feel like I do, does not mean that you hold any intimate knowledge into my mind, Emma. If you did, you would have run away from me long ago,” Regina spoke solemnly.

“That may be, but I also tend to be a pretty good judge of character, and I know you want to believe me here. But you’re right, and I won’t tell you what to believe. I won’t tell you everything you know is a lie, because if it is in your mind and affecting you, that is all the realness that it needs to have. There’s one thing you’re wrong about, though.”

“What’s that?” Regina’s gravelly voice asked, punctuated with another series of wet coughs that caused her to put some space back between them.

“There is nothing in that mind of yours that would make me run.”

“So you say.” Regina looked up to meet her eyes.

Emma didn’t expect Regina’s full trust, especially in such a sticky situation, but she had hoped to make more progress. She needed to get Regina away from her mother, but she couldn’t do that without Regina’s confession of what had been done to her.

Emma nodded at the other woman’s words and swallowed thickly. “I promise. But the fact still remains that there are many things missing from your mind, and I think they are gone for a reason. I truly don’t think you killed him, Regina.”

“Then who did?” she asked, now close to tears that Emma hadn’t noticed before.

She hadn’t expected the question, and paused for a moment to think of an answer. She had assumed Regina would believe him just as fabricated as the rest.

“Maybe he never really existed either.”

Emma watched Regina’s face carefully. First it contorted into confusion, quickly followed by a stoic mask, only neither lasted long. The tears inexplicably spilled from Regina’s watery eyes, and her face turned red with rage. “NO!” she screamed, pounding her fists down upon her thighs and bending in frustration.

The sheer violence of the movements took Emma off guard, but she could only watch as the brunette worked through her reaction on her own. This wasn’t the sweet innocent Regina she had expected to find, but she was still quite infatuating in an eerie way.

“No… no he’s real, he’s real, Daniel was real!” Regina mumbled, rocking back and forth as her hands came up to claw at the top of her head. Emma recognized the trance, having seen it on other foster kids growing up, but she hated to think of the pain going through Regina’s mind from it. Everyone holds onto something, and for Regina, that was apparently Daniel; taking that away would only be cruel, Emma realized too late.

A shrill cry left Regina’s lungs as she clutched her head tighter, fingers weaving between the tendrils of her hair as she carelessly pulled. The mumbling continued but it was no longer coherent.

“Hurts…” Regina said, just a bit more clearly than anything else.

“What hurts, your hair?”

“No.” Again, her words were more coherent than the rest of the sounds she mumbled out. “My head. It hurts, Emma.”

Regina managed to uncurl herself enough to look up, showing Emma her tear-stained cheeks and a look of absolute agony that Emma was beginning to think had little to do with the revelation about her dead fiancé. She was in actual, physical pain.

Emma jumped, shifting into action when she realized the potential seriousness of their situation.

“What does it feel like?” Emma asked, reaching a hand out to touch Regina’s shoulder as a way to ground her there before she slipped off again.

“Like…” Regina gritted her teeth and groaned. “Like something is trying to rip its way out, like flashes of fire.”

She definitely needed to get her to a hospital, as Emma had no idea what was happening, but she knew it couldn’t be good.

“Okay, Regina I’m going to help you, but we can’t do anything or go anywhere until you tell me what your mother has done to you? Did she cause your bruises? Did she hurt you?” Emma asked, her voice letting on that the answers were of the utmost importance.

Regina continued to grasp her head in pain, lips moving but no sound making its way out.

“Regina, please!” Emma yelled, tightening her grip on the shoulder.

“Y-yes. Cora… Cora did, but Emma, I was such a bad girl. Mother only wants me to be good, I’m so bad Emma. Bad girl, Regina.” The words broke through Regina’s sobs, going off to near babble by the ends, but it was enough.

Emma turned towards the bushes where he was silently observing, waiting for the signal, and called out, “Graham, she admitted it. Go get her, I need to get Regina to the hospital!”

The plan had been for Graham to wait, as she had told him all she knew beforehand and found no concrete evidence. He had wanted to see for himself, but Emma’s urgings that Regina wouldn’t feel safe around a stranger had been convincing enough to get him to agree to stay out of sight. She just had to get Regina’s statement, in some form, and he could use that to arrest the Mayor. Anything less and he knew they would never get away with action against such a powerful woman.

After Graham had waved and left, seemingly unnoticed by the still crying Regina, Emma crouched down to her.

“Shh, just hold on. I’m getting you out of here and you’re going to be okay. Just hold on for me. I’m going to pick you up now, okay?” Emma explained calmly.

Regina managed a nod and allowed herself to be scooped up into the strong arms of the Savior, burrowing her aching head into the crook of her neck.

Having had her bug parked a block away, Emma had to carry Regina for several minutes, but her adrenaline was pounding so roughly in her veins that she barely took notice to any strain in her back or arms. She had already planned on taking Regina to get checked out for her cough, but the screaming and the head grabbing were definitely too important to wait.

For about the hundredth time, Emma felt herself wondering what the hell Cora Mills had been putting her daughter through.

By the time they were at the car, Regina had stopped shaking and began to calm down.

“The pain’s gone,” she announced, making no move to get out of Emma’s arms. With the slightly awkward practiced ease of a parent with a child who frequently fell asleep while out and about, Emma was able to maneuver herself to open the passenger door. Regina looked at the car wearily, but allowed herself to be lowered in.

“We still need to take you to the hospital. What the hell was that Regina? Has that happened to you before?” Emma asked, standing in the open doorway and watching Regina buckle herself in.

“No, I don’t believe so. It was like there was a dream trying to break through. I thought it was a memory, but the setting was far too strange to have been anything from my life. It just caused me quite a bit of pain, but I’ll be all right,” she reassured.

Emma smiled, closing the door on Regina’s side and moving over to get into the driver’s seat.

“Yeah, well, I’d still prefer to have Dr. Whale check everything out.”

Emma turned her keys to start the bug, earning her an unexpected yelp.

“Now what?” she asked, turning sharply to see if Regina was in pain again.

“You have to take me home. We can’t go anywhere. Mother will be home soon, she won’t approve of me leaving. I can’t be seen. Please, Emma, you have to take me back.” The woman’s voice was in full on panic, her breathing quickly growing erratic and the coughing overtaking her once more.

Regina started scrapping her nails along the leather interior of Emma’s car, as if she believed she could claw her way out. Emma did not mention that the doors were still unlocked.

“Woah, hey, calm down. She’s not going to do anything to you. She won’t even notice you’ve left.”

“Emma, my mother is many things, but dim is not one of them. She will surely notice, and she won’t like it. I need to go back,” Regina stressed.

Emma sighed, knowing she had to tell Regina what was happening but afraid of how she would react.

“She won’t, because right now the Sheriff is on his way to arrest her. She’s going to jail, Regina,” Emma explained calmly and slowly to allow the meaning to sink in.

First Regina froze, even the interspersed coughing managing to pause for a few seconds of dragging silence. She simply stared ahead at nothing as her expression continued to blanch. Then, finally, just when Emma was about to speak up again, she felt a light punch against her arm.

“What the hell?” Puzzled, she looked down at the leather-clad limb, assessing that the only threat to it had been Regina’s weak attempt to hit her. “What was that for?”

“You have to let her go! Do you know how angry this will make her?”

Emma couldn’t hold back a smirk at the thought of the enraged mayor, sitting in a cell while barking orders at Graham and trying to keep her pantsuit from wrinkling. “She can’t hurt you from there, I promise.”

“And what I am I supposed to do, Emma? She may be cruel in her ways, but I need her. I don’t know how to survive without her. Please. She keeps me from hurting anyone, I know it. Still, she did not cry, clearly intent on holding her own like she had seen her mother do. Please don’t take her.” Regina was close to tears again now, making Emma feel bad for smiling.

“You’re an adult, Regina, you don’t need her. You’ll be okay. She did something bad and she has to answer for it, you know that,” Emma explained.

“But what about me?”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Emma’s voice was firm as she reached out an arm to tentatively pat Regina’s shoulder, hoping she wasn’t overstepping.

“No, I mean… I don’t know how to be alone. I can’t even remember leaving that home. What am I supposed to do?”

Emma smiled, nudging Regina to get her to look up and meet her eyes. “Well obviously I plan on helping you, don’t worry. I’m not just going to ditch you somewhere. I promise.”

“You won’t leave me?” Regina asked, almost hopefully.

“I won’t leave you.”

“And Henry?”

“He is going to be very excited when he sees who our new guest is.”

 

~*~

 

When Emma finally got Regina calmed down enough to leave, after assuring her that she wasn’t going to be alone, that her mother was not going to be harmed, and that she had Emma for anything she needed, Emma drove away and headed to Storybrooke Hospital. The drive was mostly silent, Regina just staring out the window in a sort of awe at finally seeing everything again. Her knuckles were white where her fingers clutched the sides of the seat.

Emma had to clear her throat when they pulled into a parking space out front, realizing that Regina seemed unaware of their arrival.

“We should head in. I’d say you constitute as emergent enough to keep us from having to wait long, and my badge should allow for some sway,” Emma explained while she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Emma, what is this place?” Regina asked dryly.

“Uhm, it’s the hospital. Remember, I want Dr. Whale to look you over. We’ll also need to get any of this down as evidence for the police report.”

“Take me home,” Regina ordered, the panic back in her voice.

“Hey, we’ve been over this. I can’t let you go anywhere until the doctors check you out.”

“You can’t force me.”

Emma frowned. Technically, she probably could get a court order if she wanted to have Regina declared mentally unfit to make these decisions for herself due to the stress and likely case of Stockholm syndrome she was experiencing, but Emma didn’t want to have to do that to Regina. She didn’t want to take someone who was abused and force them into situations, because she knew exactly what that was like, and she would do anything she could to protect Regina from having to go through such a situation at her hand.

“You’re right,” Emma finally answered, chewing on her lower lip. “If you really want to leave, we will, but it would mean a lot to me if you let yourself get checked out.”

Regina seemed to mill the answer over for a minute, wringing her palms together in her lap and coughing into the stagnant air in front of her. “I know you think that it wasn’t real, but Emma, the doctors I remember are very much real to me. I don’t want them to do those things to me again. I don’t want to go in there and be strapped down while they see how much pain it will take to rid my mind of its demons.” Regina’s voice was cold and sad, making Emma’s spine shiver at the thought of what the other woman possibly endured. Or well, even if she hadn’t, she had every day in her mind, and that was almost worse in itself.

“These doctors aren’t like that,” she was quick to explain. “They won’t hurt you, just check your injuries and probably give you something for that cough.”

As if to further Emma’s point, Regina coughed painfully again.

“How do you know? Mother said the doctors at that place were not doing as they should either. Maybe you just want to drop me off here to have me locked away again.”

“Do you really believe that?” Emma asked, more concerned that she was trusted so little than anything else, not that she would blame Regina if she was.

“I don’t know. Apparently there are many things I don’t know,” the small voice replied.

“What if I promise to stay with you the entire time? If you want, I’ll even go back into the exam room with you. That would probably be best for collecting evidence anyways. If I promise I won’t leave your side, will you trust me enough to go in?” Emma tried.

Regina still seemed hesitant, though her wringing hands began to flutter in front of her stomach instead, and she took a deep breath. “You’ll stay with me no matter what?”

“I’ll stay with you unless you ask me to go, and even then, I’ll be in the waiting room for you. Okay?” Emma spoke soothingly.

“And I won’t be restrained?” Regina asked nervously.

“Absolutely not, I promise.”

Regina looked up and met her eyes, conveying the level of trust she was about to bestow upon Emma with her answer, the pain of her worries so apparent and haunting that it could drown a person if they weren’t careful.

“Okay,” Regina finally answered softly.

Emma got out of the car, wanting to get this over with before Regina could go and change her mind. She walked around and opened the passenger door, helping the other woman from her seat and directing her toward the hospital doors. Regina moved with hesitation, but when she glanced over to see that Emma was still following closely behind, her back seemed to straighten a bit more firmly.

When they entered, there wasn’t much excitement going on in the hospital. A few nurses were bustling back and forth, but as expected with a small town, the number of people seeking medical attention during the typical weekly working hours was kept to a minimum. There was a desk in the center of the room surrounding a nurse who seemed more engrossed in whatever was on her computer screen than in bringing medical attention to anyone. With a sigh, Emma walked up to the desk and slapped her hand down on it to break the woman’s attention away from the monitor.

There was no greeting of any sort from the nurse, just a disgruntled groan at having been interrupted from her oh-so-important game of Candy Crushers or whatever time-wasting activity she had been embarking on. Emma didn’t care enough to look, as her primary concern was on Regina.

“We need to see a doctor,” she said as calmly as possible, knowing that it was stating the obvious. The nurse seemed unlikely to come to this realization on her own if the blank staring was anything to go by.

“Have a seat over there,” her droll voice instructed. The nurse made a half-hearted gesture to some seats and went right back to her computer screen, never once taking down their names or any information to give an indication as to the fact that they actually existed.

Regina shifted to walk toward the seats, overcome by another fit of her wet coughs that nearly bent her in half with the force. Emma, however, cleared her throat loudly and continued standing by the desk.

“Aren’t you going to put our names down, or at least pretend you care?” Emma growled, gaining the attention of not only the nurse, but the few other people who happened to be in the room.

“Excuse me?” the nurse snapped.

“How exactly is the doctor supposed to know someone is waiting for him if all you do is play some mind-numbing game on your computer?”

“Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?” Now the nurse was angry, turning to fully face Emma in a confrontation the blonde was more than ready to have if it got Regina help sooner.

“I’m trying to tell you to do it in the first place,” Emma countered. She could feel a headache coming on after all the stress of her morning so far, and this woman was not helping one bit. She could hear Regina coughing still off to the side and glanced over to make sure she was okay before continuing. “She needs a doctor, not an hour long wait so you can get paid to sit around doing nothing on,” Emma leaned forward so she could see the screen, “Solitaire.”

The nurse stayed silent but glared back at Emma in disdain.

“Look, this is official Sheriff’s business. So, either get the damn doctor out here, or I’m sure Graham would be more than happy to look through all your records to make sure you people are treating your patients and paperwork in complete accordance with the law. We can even start with yours, which should be quick if you’re so sure you’re doing your job and all. And that’s assuming nothing happens to his key witness in the meantime.” Emma smiled sweetly, watching the panic overtake the other woman’s face.

Wordlessly, the nurse picked up a phone on the desk and quickly dialed an extension number.

“Dr. Whale, there’s an urgent patient here for you from the Sheriff’s office…”

Smiling in satisfaction, Emma turned and walked over to where Regina was sitting. She plopped down in the seat next to her, sure the pride was apparent on her face.

“Was that really necessary, Emma?” Regina whispered with a cringe, apparently having been paying more attention than Emma realized.

“Completely,” she spoke with a sharp nod. “She was just going to let us sit here until someone happened to walk out and notice there were patients, and after that thing with your head I think you need to be seen sooner than later.”

“Mother says it isn’t polite to be rude,” Regina explained softly.

“Well, she’s not here and that lady totally deserved it,” Emma countered and stuck her tongue out playfully. Regina merely rolled her eyes at her, but there was a hint of amusement and wonder playing at her lips that made Emma’s smile widen.

Just then, Dr. Whale came out from the back and took notice of them. “Deputy Swan, nice to see you again. Nurse Jones said the Sheriff’s station has an emergent case?” he asked, reaching out to shake Emma’s hand.

“Yeah, this is Regina. Can we, uhm, do this in private?” Emma asked, looking around to see potential eavesdroppers. There would surely be a great deal of gossip surrounding Regina’s appearance and the Mayor’s arrest; she really didn’t want to add more fuel to the fire.

“Of course,” he said, reaching out his hand toward Regina next.

She merely looked at it nervously and flinched away, grabbing onto Emma’s arm tightly. Whale luckily noticed her discomfort and pulled it away, choosing to smile at her instead.

“If you two would like to follow me back to a private exam room,” he suggested awkwardly, waving in the general direction of a hallway.

“Regina, this is Dr. Whale. He just wants to help you, okay?” Emma explained. “Are you okay if we follow him to the room?”

Regina silently nodded, but stood with Emma, and she followed her down the hall after the doctor. The coughing started back up once the door shut behind them, and Emma cold see Whale’s eyes wandering between her bruised face and her chest— hopefully out of interest over her cough and not anything else— as he began to look her over.

“That’s a nasty cough you have there, Regina,” he mused, frowning down at her when Regina took a seat where instructed. “Is it causing you any pain?”

“A little,” she replied with a cracking voice.

“How long have you had it?” he asked curiously.

“I’m not sure. A while,” Regina said quietly, looking over to Emma when she answered, rather than the Doctor. Emma took a step closer to her side and flashed her a smile to continue.

“Does anything ever come up with it? Any moisture or phlegm?”

“Sometimes.”

“Hmm. I’m going to run some tests but from the sound of that rattle, I’d say you probably have yourself a nice case of pneumonia.”

Regina looked uncomfortable at this news and looked to Emma for answers. “Don’t worry, it sucks but you’ll be okay, right Dr. Whale?” Emma looked to him for backup.

“Oh, yes, she should recover. Is there anything else of concern to you?” Emma noticed he was asking her directly, rather than Regina, who still refused to meet his eyes.

“Yes, but first, you should know that this is a highly confidential case,” Emma explained.

“Of course, I treat all my patients as if they were,” Whale was quick to assure.

Emma nodded with a tight lipped smiled in place, only hoping he was being at least somewhat sincere. “Right, well, I’m going to need documentation of all her injuries for the case. There’s a bruise on her cheek, but I’m not sure about the rest of her. And, earlier, her head started to hurt a lot.”

Whale looked like he wanted to ask a thousand questions, like what had happened to her in the first place, but Emma was in no mood to disclose that and make Regina feel more uncomfortable. The signs of abuse were apparent enough as it was, and she knew he had realized at least that much after only a few minutes of being in the room with her.

“This head pain, can you describe it?” This time he at least looked at Regina for an answer.

“It was sharp and it hurt very much, but it didn’t last long, I’m fine,” she murmured.

“She said it felt like a memory was trying to break through.”

His interest seemed piqued by this announcement. “Really, have you been experiencing any memory loss?”

“I don’t know. I suppose.”

At his questioning look toward Emma, she only sighed. “She might be. We aren’t exactly sure, and it’s a really long story that probably isn’t medically relevant as it won’t end up answering your question with anything more than we just told you.”

“Okay,” he looked unsure but Emma’s stern glare kept him from pushing, “Well, I would like to do a scan of her brain before you leave, just to be sure nothing is wrong. Patients with memory loss have experienced discomfort while gaining them back in the past, so that is a possible explanation.”

“Sounds great.”

“Now, onto the physical examination.” Whale pulled out a recorder to he could take note of Regina’s injuries as he went through them and placed it on the table, mumbling some jargon into it before looking to Regina. “Can you remove your clothes for me?”

Her eyes widened in shock at this, looking to Emma pleadingly. Sensing the discomfort, Emma stepped over and placed a hand on Regina’s upper arm. “He just wants to check you for other injuries, that’s all. Would you prefer it be a woman to see you?” Emma tried, hoping she could get Regina to feel more comfortable about this.

“Can’t it be you?” she asked, her voice tiny and desperate.

Emma frowned and shook her head no. “Sorry, but I’m not a doctor, Regina. I can stay with you, if you still want me to, but I’m afraid it’s either going to be Whale or a nurse.”

Regina seemed uneasy as she accepted this explanation. Emma held her breath and waited patiently, allowing her to come to terms with her choice on her own. She wasn’t in the mood to push her more than necessary.

“Whale is fine,” Regina finally told Emma before coughing to the side again, barely trying to hide her cringe of pain this time. Slowly, she managed to remove her top, not moving to remove the bra, but already Emma could see a series of bruises along her ribs. She was no doctor, but from personal experience, none seemed to be broken at least. Emma did her best to avert her gaze away when she glanced over the woman’s ample cleavage, feeling disgusted in herself for even a moment of looking when Regina was so vulnerably placed on display.

She couldn’t help the memory of them in her mind, though, as she looked up to the wall. In her bundled up state at the mansion, it was easy for Emma to see Regina as a young girl, though she very clearly was not. Now, all she could see was a beautiful woman, a very tempting one at that, but it was her duty not to take advantage of Regina. There was no denying the attraction she felt to her, the pull she had to be around the other woman ever since meeting her, but this one would just have to be off limits. There could be no true love’s kisses as Henry so desired of her. She cared too much about Regina already.

“Your pants,” Dr. Whale said, interrupting Emma’s thoughts. She looked down and realized Regina seemed intent on leaving them on, making only half her body open to the examination.

“Regina, he can’t check you if you leave them on,” Emma pressed, trying to give her a reassuring smile. She didn’t feel comfortable touching her with no clothing between them, even if it was just her arm that Emma had been using to ground her before.

“There’s no need. I’m fine there. Please just hurry, it’s cold in here.” Regina coughed again, gasping for air. So exposed, Emma could see just how much it shook her entire body.

“Regina-”

“I said no!” she ordered, speaking up louder than she had since the examination began. Emma was taken aback by the outburst, though clearly not as much as Whale, who dropped the instrument he was reaching for back down onto the counter.

Emma looked her in the eyes, wanting to argue but also wanting to let Regina make these decisions for herself.

“If you’re sure you’re okay, then you can leave them on,” Emma finally said.

Regina smiled at her gratefully and nodded.

An hour later, they had several tests and a scan of her brain that showed nothing. Whale attributed it all to his initial memory theory and told them to come back if it happened again. Regina had a few bruises on her chest and ribcage, but the cough and fever were the only things Whale found any concern with. He diagnosed her with pneumonia and handed Emma a prescription, sending them on their way with the promise to fax a record of her injuries to the Sheriff for their report, with Regina’s permission. Emma was still curious as to what Regina didn’t want her to see on her legs, but bit her tongue to keep from asking.

“You did good,” Emma praised once they were back in the car.

“Thank you, it helped that you were there.”

“I was thinking, if you’re up for it, we could stop by the pharmacy to get this and then swing by in time to pick Henry up from school. Does that sound good to you? Or would you rather I just take you back to the apartment?” Emma asked, unsure where to go from this point. She would eventually have to go to the station to check in with Graham, but she wasn’t quite ready to leave Regina yet. Maybe later, when Mary Margaret and Henry would be around to keep her company.

“I would love to see Henry.”

“Great,” Emma said with a cheery smile as she started the bug back up. “You being with me is going to be more exciting for him than his Birthday and Christmas combined.”

Regina laughed, for once sounding a little bit lighter than usual, and it made Emma’s heart soar.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: It's a bird... it's a plane... *gasp* it's an update! I can't even begin to say how sorry I am for the delay. It has taken me so long to get back into writing. It didn't help that I met Lana and Bex (I'm still dead) and needed some time to recover from that experience. I'd write about 2 sentences before day dreaming about it. Thank you so much for all the kind reviews and messages I have received. I was shocked by the level of interest I didn't realize people have in this story. Warning: Going to Paris for FTC tomorrow. Really excited, and if any of you will be there, let me know! I'll be the skinny girl in dresses with a big feather/apple tattoo on her back shoulder next to the words "I make my own destiny." Can't miss me XD I would love to meet you all. That being said, I'm also vacationing through other parts of Europe and won't be able to bring my laptop, so no update until I get back and have a day or so to type it up. Sorry!

“GINAAA!” Little eyes lit up and Henry charged forward, clearly intent on slamming his full body weight into Regina any moment. Emma acted fast and reached out, plucking him up into her arms at the last minute to spare Regina the impact.

“Careful, Henry. We have to be gentle with Regina for a little while, okay?” Emma lectured softly, too taken by his beaming smile to be stern with him.

“Sorry, Mama. HI GINA!” Henry yelled, barely shaken by the admonishment as his excitement took over once more.

“Hello, Henry. It’s nice to see you,” Regina replied gently.

“How come you’re here? Did Mama save you?” Henry asked innocently.

Emma held her breath, not having expected Henry to be so forward about their plan. She wasn’t some sort of hero, not this Savior he kept claiming she needed to live up to. She was just a decent person doing what she wished people had done for her at some of the homes when she was younger. He didn’t need to glorify her actions, and it probably made Regina feel uncomfortable as well.

Or so Emma thought it would.

Instead, the brunette smiled at him widely and nodded her head. “She did, Henry.”

“Like a knight?” he asked, eyes widening humorously.

“All she was missing was her noble steed,” Regina played along.

“That’s cause my Mama is the bestest Mama ever!” Henry exclaimed loudly. Regina giggled in response.

“I couldn’t agree more, Dear. Emma is the ‘bestest’ person I know.”

Emma blushed, unused to getting such a compliment, especially not from someone like Regina.

Emma noticed how she was standing back a bit, almost holding herself in, and realized the stream of children and parents were probably too much for her so soon.

“Are you okay?” Emma whispered softly as soon as she took in the other woman’s discomfort.

“Can we go back into your car, please?” Regina asked, eyes shining nervously. It was amazing she had held off so long, simply to indulge Henry.

Immediately, Emma moved toward the bug and unlocked the passenger door. “Here, get in, I just have to put Henry in his car seat.” Regina didn’t hesitate to follow Emma’s directions, and as soon as the words had left her mouth, the shaken woman was all but jumping in and slamming the door shut behind her.

She moved to put Henry in the back, laughing to herself at the way he kept obliviously chattering on to Regina. She hoped he would eventually quiet down to let her rest later, so if he got it out of his system now, it would probably be for the best.

“Mama, if you saved Regina, why she still coughing?” Henry asked as soon as Emma was behind the wheel. She had noticed Regina’s cough was acting up again while she buckled Henry in and realized they should be going so she could start her on that prescription as soon as possible.

“Henry, Regina still has to take her medicine, just like you when you get sick, remember?”

Henry seemed to think on this for a moment, and Emma took the small window of silence to pull away from the curb and begin driving back to the apartment.

“Okay,” he finally settled on. “Does Regina live with us now?”

“Err… uh…” Emma froze. She had certainly not expected Henry to jump to such a conclusion like that. She would be staying with them of course, but it was just a temporary thing, right? Of course, the more she thought about it, the more Emma realized that she didn’t really have a decent answer to his question, because where was Regina going to live? Could she be left alone? It didn’t seem likely, though maybe Emma would see if she’d talk to Dr. Hopper and have him assess whether or not that would be safe.

Of course, the curious and hopeful expression on Regina’s face that Emma noticed when she glanced over for help was not expected. Nor was it helpful, at all, if the two of them decided to gang up against her.

“Let’s just see how it goes, kid. For now, Regina’s going to be staying with us, though. Like a long extended sleepover,” Emma explained.

“Cool! We can play games and eat ice cream and sleep in a tent!” Henry exclaimed.

“Henry, we don’t have a tent. Or a yard. And I really don’t think Regina would be up to that.” Emma had to stifle a laugh at his excitement to appear firm, as ridiculous as the ideas were.

“Oh, right,” Henry said very seriously, as though the idea had never even occurred to him. “What about a movie?”

Emma rolled her eyes. “We’ll see how Regina is feeling, okay? It’s been a big day for her, Henry.”

“I’ve never seen a movie,” Regina piped in.

“You… what?” Emma was certain she must have misheard the brunette.

“Mother never approved of televisions,” Regina explained mournfully. Emma had a feeling it was more because she felt left out than that she thought she had truly missed out on anything of value, but it was still sad to hear. She knew Regina never left that house, yet somehow she managed to occupy herself all day. Just the thought of such ultimate loneliness was all too relatable to Emma, something she never wanted to experience again, and Regina’s seemingly quick attachment to her and her son was beginning to make a great deal of more sense.

“Henry, I’m thinking we should upgrade that to a full on Harry Potter marathon. You in?”

His cheers of happiness drowned out Regina’s confused utters from beside her, but Emma could tell the other woman was intrigued. This was definitely going to be a very long night, and it was barely past lunch time.

 

~-~

 

Getting to the apartment went much more smoothly than Emma could have anticipated. Henry did manage to calm down to the extent that his non-stop chattering slowed enough so that his questions at least left time for Regina or Emma to answer in between. Regina, for her own part, had somehow managed to keep calm as well. Her grip on the door was just as firm as before, but her face no longer held the look of someone who was ready to faint from fear.

Overall, things looked to be going fairly well for Emma Swan— or so she thought, until they had just gotten through the door to the apartment.

It was somewhere in the ten dozen licks being handed out by a happy Elsie between Henry and Regina that Emma’s son managed to find the one question she had really hoped to avoid.

“Is the Mayor gonna be mad we took Gina?”

Regina visibly paled at this, arms enclosing in on her torso as she stood back up, any semblance of happiness from greeting the puppy completely wiped from her complexion. Emma didn’t dare touch her, afraid of what it might evoke, but did direct Regina to the couch so she could take a seat before any thoughts of running hit her again.

“The Mayor did some bad things, kid. But don’t worry, Sheriff Graham has her all locked up and there is no way she’s getting out, okay bud?” Emma reassured as lightly as she could. She then turned her gaze to Regina before finishing with, “She can’t hurt anyone from in there, I promise.”

“But what if she gets out?” Regina’s shaky voice asked, deep breaths beginning to fill and exit her lungs in quick succession. Henry seemed to sense Regina’s distress, for before Emma could stop him, he was up on the couch next to her and wrapping his tiny arms around her torso from the side.

Emma held her breath, ready to pull him off in case Regina didn’t react well in her current state. What was she even thinking, bringing someone who was practically a stranger into her home where her child was? What if Regina hurt him, then how would she ever live with herself? Emma was panicking, visualizing all the things that could go wrong. She didn’t believe that Regina would ever wish to harm her son, truly, but she had spent enough time around emotionally damaged individuals in the system to know that sometimes feelings flare and can take over even the most docile of people.

Just as she was ready to dive in and separate them, Regina did something utterly surprising. The brunette peeled one of her shaking arms away from where it seemed to be holding herself together with a firmly clenched grasp, and she moved it slowly out and wrapped the limb around Henry, allowing his little body to snuggle closer.

It was so heartwarming she almost ran for a camera just to capture the moment forever, but instead opted to stay and watch with a smile.

No, Regina might be messed up in a lot of ways, but she definitely wasn’t going to hurt Henry.

“Regina,” Emma began confidently. She took a step toward the couch and crouched down in front of the pair, not trusting herself to refrain from spooking the other woman in any capacity should she get too close. “She won’t get out. And even if she did, I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe here.”

“You don’t know what she’s capable of, Emma,” Regina spoke wearily. It was the silent glance down at Henry that sent Emma’s blood boiling into overdrive, realizing exactly what Regina was thinking as she tightened her grip on him just a little harder.

This woman in front of her was not grasping onto the child for comfort. No, despite everything she had been through, that fear in Regina’s eyes was not just for herself, and Emma finally began to understand. She was worried about what Cora would do to Henry, like it was a possibility that she would even try.

She was more concerned with protecting the life of Emma’s son than she was her own, and likely would have continued to endure whatever unimaginable abuse she was subjected to if it would have kept him away from her mother’s wrath.

Emma felt tears welling in her eyes but refused to let them fall. She cleared her throat and stood once again, back held firm and tall. She was about to speak, to reassure that Cora would not be getting to anyone from behind bars if she had any say in the matter, but Henry beat her to the punch.

“We do know what she’s cap-ble of Gina,” Henry proclaimed proudly. He looked around the tiny apartment from his seat on the couch, as if checking for any listening ears, before turning to Regina and loudly whispering, “She’s the Queen of Hearts,” as if it was some sort of top secret information that only trusted parties could be privy to.

Regina didn’t seem as put off by this proclamation as everyone else Henry had explained this theory to did— excluding the ones who just laughed and patted him on the shoulder as if having just been told the best joke all year about their nasty mayor. Instead, Regina looked a bit curious as to the statement.

“What do you mean?” she asked wearily.

“It’s all in my book. I can show you later. Maybe you can even read it to me for bedtime?” Henry begged, his little puppy eyes working in exactly what his intent had been from the moment he snuggled up on the couch next to his new favorite person.

“We’ll see how the evening goes, okay Henry? Regina might be too tired since she’s still not feeling well.”

Henry seemed to think on this for a moment before sullenly nodding. He still didn’t make to move away, though, so that was probably a good sign. Glancing at the clock, Emma realized Mary Margaret would be home soon. She really needed to run an errand, but there was no way she was leaving these two alone any time soon.

“Do you have any homework, Henry?”

Again, he thought for a moment, even dramatically placing a finger on his chin as if he needed to ponder. “I have to draw a picture of my favorite story.”

“Anything else?”

“No, Mama.”

“Okay, then how about I get you set up at the table with some crayons and paper. Do you need any help?” Emma asked, already moving to get the art supplies.

“That’s cheating, Mama,” Henry scolded with a scowl as he began to scurry off the couch. She noticed Regina seemed reluctant to let go, as though she was still not entirely reassured.

“No, it would be cheating if I did it for you. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it,” Emma explained patiently.

“Can I ask Gina?” Henry moved into his chair to get his homework done before looking at Emma with his typical puppy eyes.

Yes, this was definitely going to be a very long evening if he decided to keep this up. Henry did, at least, manage to set to work on his own. It was peculiar to her that he shielded his work carefully every time Emma tried to get a peek at what he was drawing, but Henry didn’t always make sense so she figured it best to let him be. The kid had an odd way of doing things but he was certainly efficient. Instead, Emma busied herself with getting Regina her much needed medicine and a blanket, since the apartment was a little drafty and she didn’t seem to want to move from her new home on the couch.

Emma was just getting ready to ask if there was anything else she could get Regina, now completely out of ideas for what to do with the woman she had to quickly taken in without a thought, but was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening.

“Emma, I was thinking of making spaghetti for dinner. Does Henry like that?” Mary Margaret announced her presence, not bothering to look up as she headed straight for the loft’s open kitchen to put away the groceries she had apparently picked up after work.

“Yeah, that’s fine for the kid. But uhm, you got enough for one more?” Emma asked sheepishly. Oh yeah, she probably should have discussed this whole new roommate thing before bringing Regina in, seeing as it was Mary Margaret’s apartment. She acted so fast on instinct, she never bothered to wonder if the meek teacher might not be so okay with having a stranger who could just possibly be a killer in her home. Finding a new place to stay certainly wasn’t ideal but if she said no, Emma saw no other choice.

At this announcement, Mary Margaret did look up from behind the counter, and that’s when she spotted Regina curled up on the couch watching on nervously. Emma couldn’t quite figure out what her roommate was thinking, but the dragging silence was definitely disconcerting, to say the least. She had expected something, anything, to come from her lips. Instead, she gawked openly as if Regina was some sort of museum featured anomaly.

“Is this… I mean,” Mary Margaret blushed, looking at least somewhat ashamed for the fact that she was about to speak to Emma about Regina like she wasn’t even sitting right there a few feet away, and turned her attention over to the woman on the couch. “Are you Regina?” she finally managed to ask.

“I am. But I’m afraid I don’t know you. At least… I think I don’t?” Emma hadn’t expected the look of complete suspicion to cross Regina’s face, but there she was, eying the younger woman like she might have possibly recognized her. It was peculiar, but nothing of concern until Mary Margaret stepped from around the counter and moved closer with her hand outstretched, as if to shake.

Emma felt a tight grip on her arm, pulling her to the side so that she was standing between Regina and her roommate like a shield.

“Regina?” Emma asked, utterly confused by the situation. Mary Margaret had never indicated having any knowledge of Regina’s existence, yet Regina was acting as if she was frightened by the woman who collected bird figurines and ugly hand-knit sweaters of all people.

Emma turned, eyebrow raised, and assessed the situation to the best of her abilities. “You okay?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” Regina answered honestly. She peaked out around Emma to see Mary Margaret again and quickly inhaled sharply before straightening back out.

“Mary Margaret’s my roommate. She won’t hurt you if that’s what you’re worried about.” Emma reached out her free hand and used it to lightly pat the top of Regina’s hand that was still wrapped tightly around her wrist.

Still, Regina stared, almost as if in a trance. And then, just like before, she released Emma to grab at her head and whimper.

“Regina?!” Emma was at her side immediately, sitting on the couch and rubbing her shoulder helplessly. The doctor had said nothing about what to do should this happen again, so she hoped it would pass soon. So far Henry was still too wrapped up in his mystery drawing to notice the commotion, and Emma hoped it would stay that way before he really did get scared by all that was going on.

Mary Margaret flittered helplessly around before leaving to the kitchen to do who knows what. Emma didn’t have time to ask; her mind was set completely upon calming Regina down. “Hey, it’s okay, just breathe for me, okay? It’ll pass.” She hoped. She didn’t actually have a clue what was happening or when it would stop, but the suggestion alone seemed to help Regina relax against her.

Footsteps indicated Mary Margaret’s return, but Emma didn’t look up until she heard the clunk of a mug being set upon the side table.

“It’s tea,” Mary Margaret answered Emma’s questioning look. “She looked like she could use some.”

“Thank you,” Emma whispered, afraid even too much noise would make the pain worse. To her surprise, though, Regina reached out a shaky hand and grasped the cup of tea around the handle, bringing it close to her mouth. Cracked lips pursed and slowly blew air across the surface of the tea, creating a cloud of steam that swirled up at her hair and encompassed her face like a blanket. Slowly but surely, Regina inhaled the steam and sighed contently. Her pursed lips turned to accommodate the cup as she took a long but careful sip of the still piping hot beverage.

“Thank you, that was very kind of you, and it helped,” Regina finally spoke after a few sips, looking up to Mary Margaret with a tight smile.

“Of course, anytime. Are you all right?” the younger woman asked brightly, clearly pleased for having been able to be of some sort of help. Emma could already see this turning into her newest pet project and only hoped her roommate wouldn’t completely smother Regina to death.

“I suppose…”

“Did it feel like the last time?” Emma’s concerned voice asked.

“Like I was trying to remember something? Yes. But I’m still not sure why.” Regina frowned.

“Hey, don’t worry, it will happen when it’s supposed to. I don’t know a lot about brains, but whatever it’s doing is probably just to help you, so let it happen.”

“Does anyone want to explain to me what’s going on?” Mary Margaret asked from over to the side, where she had been cast upon Emma’s concern turning to Regina once more.

“Right, uhm… long story short, Regina can’t be in her home right now and the Mayor is in jail. Can she stay here with us?” Emma smiled hopefully. She definitely had not intended to be so blunt with her request, and if Mary Margaret’s raised eyebrows were any indication, her roommate was less than amused by the gesture.

She seemed to be contemplating her answer for a moment, looking back and forth between Emma and Regina, before finally sighing and smiling down at the woman on the couch. “Yes, of course she can stay here. We don’t have a ton of room, but we can figure something out.”

“I don’t need much space,” Regina replied solemnly. There was something there, a darkness that crept into her voice, and it made Emma feel uneasy. She didn’t want to think about Regina confined into small spaces.

“Great! Then, uhm, how about while you two figure that out, I’ll just go run a little errand. Henry should be okay as long as you check periodically to make sure the walls haven’t become his new coloring pad. Is that okay?” While the question was open to both women, Emma made a point to look Regina in the eye. The last thing she wanted was to leave her if that would make her uncomfortable in some way.

Regina looked hesitantly at Mary Margaret before smiling and nodding her permission. Mary Margaret, on the other hand, raised a skeptical eyebrow and parted her lips. “Of course, Emma. But where are you going, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Emma shuffled her feet nervously, not wanting to say anything in front of Henry or Regina. “It’s just a work thing. Uhm, I’ll be back for dinner though, so don’t worry.” She turned and walked over to Henry, who was still coloring furiously and gasped while quickly covering his homework as soon as he realized Emma was approaching.

“Hey, kid, I’m going out real quick. Will you be good for Mary Margaret and Regina?” she asked softly.

Henry perked up at this and straightened his stance almost comically. “Yes, Mama. I be good.”

“Thanks little man. If you’re good for them the whole time, I think we can watch that movie with Regina tonight,” Emma bargained. Seeing as it would have happened either way— she never was very good at saying no to his harmless requests— there had to be some value in making the kid at least think he had to earn it.

“Which movie?” Henry’s shrill little voice asked, almost blaring in her ear with the sharp frequency of excitement that exuded from his vocal chords in shattering waves.

“Shhh,” she scolded. He really needed to stop doing that to her hearing. “I thought you wanted Harry Potter, but you can pick out anything from our collection that you think Regina would like. Sound good?” She knew that Henry’s version of their “collection” was mainly Disney movies, as her own private stash was way off limits and likely outside of his knowledge.

“Thank you, Mama!” Henry exclaimed, just as shrill. She rolled her eyes but smiled at his enthusiasm before bending down to kiss the top of his head.

Next was Regina’s turn, which was an odd thought to Emma. In some ways it was like she suddenly had another person to take care of— which she did— but this one was certainly nothing like her son. No, Regina was beautiful and somehow managed to steal her breath away every time they spoke, yet she was still like him in that Emma felt a sense of responsibility to her. Regina was more than just a friend; she was Emma’s to protect. She was intoxicating and sobering all at once, like nothing else.

To say she was confused by the mysterious brunette would be an understatement, yet somehow Emma had to find a way to power on.

Emma approached where Regina was still tucked up on the couch and crouched down awkwardly to meet her eye level. “Hey, you sure this is okay?” Emma asked softly, forcing eye contact. It came easily with Regina, strangely, as Emma typically felt awkward about staring another person in the eye.

Regina reached out and slowly placed her hand over Emma’s, which was holding onto the arm of the couch for balance. She gave it a light squeeze and smiled. “Yes, Emma, I’ll be okay. Just be careful,” Regina stressed.

Emma frowned in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Regina just sighed to herself and blinked. “My mother has more tricks up her sleeve than you give her credit for.”

Emma gawked, trying to remember if at some point she had accidentally said the goal of her errand out loud. She was positive she hadn’t, yet somehow Regina knew.

Seemingly sensing Emma’s confusion, Regina went on. “I know that’s where you’re going. It’s okay, you don’t need to lie for my sake.”

“How did you know that?”

“It’s what I would do if I were you. I would want to know that she can’t get out to hurt anyone I care about. Even now I fear that happening myself. So, please, just be careful,” Regina urged, giving Emma’s hand another squeeze.

She gulped, touched by the way Regina could read her so well, how she understood the way Emma’s mind worked.

“I promise, I’ll be careful.”

 

~-~

 

Emma had felt silly the entire ride over to the station. Regina had made this out to be life or death, but which each minute that dragged on, it set in more and more how Cora was just a small aging woman. And she was locked away behind bars by a man Emma was growing to trust. Really, what was there that she could do? Scare her to death? It definitely seemed ridiculous to have been so dramatic about it.

She no longer felt so silly upon actually reaching the station.

The first sign that she was in over her head was the way her palms were sweating. Emma didn’t even notice the reaction until she moved to get out of her car and caught the glisten of sweat droplets where she had been gripping tightly to the steering wheel. The next sign was of the pounding heartbeat that echoed through her mind, like Cora might just appear any second to take the organ from its protective cavity. The final sign was the fact that Emma no longer considered having her heart magically ripped out to be outside the realm of possibilities.

Graham was standing in the station doorway when she arrived, effectively blocking the entrance. Emma glared at him but still tried to pass, only to be denied entrance.

“What gives? Last I checked I still work here,” Emma snapped. It was unintentional on her part, the anxiety of the situation beginning to set in in the worst of ways. “Sorry,” Emma mumbled.

“You do still work here, it’s just, I’m not sure you should be going in there,” he replied with that annoyingly thick accent that probably made most girls swoon, but only furthered Emma’s frustration.

“Why not?” Emma growled.

Graham looked on nervously before sighing and reaching a hand up to rub the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. “The Mayor isn’t exactly happy to be behind bars, and she’s saying a lot of things in there, Emma.”

“And what, you don’t think I can handle a few wise-cracks at me?” Emma’s voice rose in offense.

“No, it’s not that!” Graham was quick to assure, looking even more nervous than before. “But you seem to have garnered a personal investment in this case, and you don’t know her like I do. One conversation could end up turning your entire world upside down. I really just don’t think it advisable, that’s all.”

Emma sighed and closed her eyes to take a deep breath in preparation. “Look, I get it, but I have to see her anyways.”

“Why’s that, exactly?”

She looked at him wearily and wondered how much it would be safe to reveal. He was a good man, and in the short while she worked alongside him, Emma found the man to be rather trustworthy. He was the type of companion she wanted in her life as a friend.

“I need to see for myself that she can’t get out, okay? Regina’s scared, she keeps asking and I know she can tell that I don’t have any real answers for her. I can’t let there be any chance that Cora gets out.”

Graham tried to stand strong but a pointed look had him soon groaning and stepping aside slightly. “Fine, I won’t stop you if this is something you need to do. But promise me, Swan, you won’t let her get to you. Just go in, make sure her accommodations are up to your standards, and leave. Try not to talk to her at all if you can,” the Sheriff advised.

“Thank you,” Emma replied modestly, and she meant it. She was grateful to have this opportunity,to be able to make sure that not only Regina could feel safe, but for the unspoken fact that she would feel safer as well. The thought of Regina being taken away made Emma sick to her stomach with dread. She didn’t want Regina in the clutches of anyone, especially her mother.

Her bond seemed impossibly strong, yet it drove Emma’s actions without strain, and Regina won out every time.

With one final hard look, Graham moved aside, mumbling something about her having five minutes while he made a coffee run across the street. With that in mind, Emma braced herself and rubbed her palms together. She didn’t want to go in that room and see the vile creature who had harmed Regina, who had let her get so sick, sitting there all high and mighty. She couldn’t stomach the thought yet it was all Emma could imagine. Her time was limited though, so with a swift kick in the metaphorical rear, Emma jumped into action.

The room was quiet when she entered, and only half the lights were turned on, leaving the cells a bit darker than the rest of the office. This made it difficult to see inside, but Emma could make out the shadow of a woman. She was sitting in her cell, on the cot, and there was an immediate stifling presence in the air.

Nothing, however, could have prepare Emma for the way the hairs on the back of her neck would stand up when a small, very simple sentence was uttered from within those very shadows. Like an icicle that slowly burned the skin, Cora’s voice cut through the air.

“Hello, Miss Swan.”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: As usual, there are many with this story. Mentions of rape in this chapter.
> 
> A/N: WOW! I updated! What?! Yes, you saw correctly. I don't know why this took me so long, but I think it's my favorite chapter yet, so I hope you all find it worth the wait. Let me know what you think. All feedback is greatly appreciated.

_Present: Storybrooke Sheriff's Station_

"Hello, Miss Swan."

"Cora," Emma growled, moving toward the cell. Once she grew closer, Emma could make out the well-tailored suit showing no signs of wrinkles or damage despite her current predicament. If she had to find something positive to say about the wretched woman, it was that she knew how to keep her cool.

Graham had probably all but carried her in on a red carpet, and honestly, Emma couldn't promise that she would have been able to do any better herself. Maybe with the knowledge of Regina she would find it within herself, but it didn't seem especially promising, and she was glad he had handled Henry's Queen of Hearts on his own.

"That's Madame Mayor to you," she replied arrogantly, holding her head impossibly higher. Maybe it was a trick of the lights, but somehow the cot in her cell was beginning to resemble a throne.

"No, see, I don't give respect to people like you, Cora. And this time, you can't intimidate me, because you're in that cage where you belong and I have everything else on my side in this," Emma bit out between clenched teeth, trying to keep herself from raging against the older woman. "You can't win."

"Oh, but I can. And I will, Miss Swan. By the end of this week, my daughter will be right back in my home with me." Emma felt sickened at how amused she sounded about the whole situation.

"Regina won't be going anywhere near you if I have anything to say about it. She's safe now."

Her pulse was racing as she approached the cell, but Emma needed to be closer. She wanted to taste the fear rippling through the air, to know she was having some sort of effect— even if it was just a minor one. To get weakness from this woman would be a challenge, but not necessarily an unfamiliar one, and Emma Swan was more determined than ever. All she needed was one little in and she would finally be able to crack her open; she could dig out the core and crush it for Regina.

"Oh, and you'll do this how? By keeping her under lock and key? And here I was under the impression that you and I were of a different breed. But no, you're just like me, Miss Swan. You want to keep my daughter safe and it looks like you're doing it the exact same way. Regina isn't free with you, just foolish," Cora taunted, looking Emma dead in the eye.

She would never admit how much the thought rattled her, but it did. Emma knew, to a degree, that she was nothing like Cora. She would never intentionally cause harm to Regina or punish her so inhumanely. But there was a tiny part of her, that human side that never seemed capable of locking away, that latched onto the Mayor's words. Was Regina trapped with her? Did this help her at all if it only moved her into another setting? She knew she was being a bit protective right off the bat, but Regina went through a lot, so it only felt like the natural thing to do.

But what if she was only causing her further damage? Regina gave her trust, the one thing she had left within her to truly give another person, and forcing her to her home and practically dragging her to the doctor could be seriously violating that trust. She couldn't even remember if she'd ever asked Regina if her protection was desired in the first place.

From the smirk on Cora's face, like a Cheshire cat about to pounce on its prey, it was clear that she was aware just how strongly her words had come across, and she was proud of it.

"Regina is free to leave at any time, just as long as it isn't to come back to your sick world. I don't know how many lies you've told her, and I'm pretty sure I haven't even begun to crack through the layers of manipulation you've instilled on her, but I have something you don't."

"And what would that be, Miss Swan? Bad taste in clothing and a disrespectful brat of a child?" she snipped. "If you mean my daughter, I can insure you that no one can really ever take her from me."

"No, Cora. See, unlike you, I have respect for her, and I'm determined to make sure she gets any help she needs. And I will get to the bottom of whatever it is you've really done to her," Emma replied coolly.

"So you say." Cora looked to her fingernails disinterestedly. "Is that all, Miss Swan? Or are you simply here to waste even more tax payer dollars?"

Emma snorted and rolled her eyes. "That's all, Cora. I just needed to make sure for myself."

"Make sure of what?" She couldn't be sure, but there appeared to be the tiniest fraction of concern on her face.

"Make sure that you were aware that no matter how many strings you pull, no matter how hard you work to manipulate your way out of here, you still won't be able to get past me." Emma lowered her voice.

"Is that a threat?"

"You're damn right, it is." With that, Emma turned away, intent on stalking out of the police station before Cora could say another word. She felt good, like maybe she had succeeded at something. The warnings may have all been in vain after all.

However, just before she made it to the door, Cora cleared her throat.

"Oh, one more thing. Contrary to what you believe, Regina's fiancé was very real, Miss Swan. And I can assure you he died most tragically in her arms," Cora said quietly, but the edge to her words was not lost in the tone.

Emma didn't turn around, didn't spare the mayor another glance, but as she continued out of the room, she couldn't help noticing that the lie-detection ping she was so used to never went off in her head.

* * *

_Past: Fairy Tale Land_

Cora snarled and waved a hand over her mirror, making the image playing out before her fade into black that swirled until her reflection could once again be seen. That foolish Snow White was still trying to rally against her, plotting just another attack with the same lack of skill that all her past ones had yielded. Yet, somehow, she had managed to evade death every single time, and it was beginning to grow on Cora's nerves.

The kingdom was hers; she had married the pig and endured the years of his grabby hands and invasive tendencies; she had been forced to play happy mother to a spoiled brat while her own Regina sat locked away; she had been the one to do it all— the dirty work, the climbing, everything that would have made Regina queen if she hadn't proven herself so incompetent. Of course, Snow White had stubbornly yet to concede to that point, and was apparently more interested in destroying her people and their livelihood for the sake of her undeserved crown.

Eva would be so proud of just how much like her mother she really was; if only she could see her now in all her bloodshed and self-righteous glory.

There were two things that Cora desired most of all. One, to destroy the remnants of Snow White so she could focus on being in her true life-calling as Queen, where she could sneer down at the children who made fun of the miller's daughter if she so desired, and where she could have the power to do as she pleased and make the decisions herself. The other was a bit more complicated, as Cora's second biggest desire was currently still enduring her punishment in her hidden chamber.

Regina was stubborn, this Cora knew from the moment of her birth where she nearly refused to leave the womb and enter the world at all. She had thought it was possible for the girl to learn her lesson, but ever since her failure to destroy Snow White, Cora had found herself in a constant state of disappointment.

It wasn't a difficult job Regina had been assigned; she knew for certain that she loathed the spoiled brat, as it had been Cora's goal to get her feeling just that way with tender slights over the years. Regina's problem was that she was weak, too fragile for the world and ready to snap.

Cora couldn't help but blame herself in part. She had been too good to Regina when she punished her for trying to run off with the stable boy. She never should have given her so much attention, let her touch her so often, as it grew on Regina and made her feel comfortable, which wasn't very much of a punishment at all. Cora had lost the control she gained over the girl.

No, perhaps lost was not quite the key word in this case. Her intention of having Regina be hers, to have her willing to stay hidden and obey, had been filled quite liberally. She couldn't be more impressed with how that worked out. What she hadn't accounted for was the way in which her control could extend too far, to the point of irreversible damage that turned Regina into a fearful shut-in.

She didn't wish to leave her there forever, as Cora's desire for Regina to sit by her side as she ruled was still just as strong as before. For this to happen, a new lesson was required, and as much as it pained Cora to do so, it was entirely necessary if she ever wished for Regina to learn her lesson in obedience. Only this time, she would have to begin with a blank slate to ensure no mistakes were made.

There was a curse she had heard of, created by the Dark One, though her dealings with him were long since ended. It was still attainable, yes, but she would need to be crafty in how she went about it. The dark curse would not work in her favor should another get the pleasure of casting it, but if done right, Cora would get all she desired and more.

The curse was said to take them all to another land, and in this strange place, the caster would be able to control everything. She could cease Snow's memory of her and level the girl with her greatest disdain. She could rule as she rightfully deserved and insure that none would be brave enough to question that.

And most importantly, she could make Regina into her perfect little puppet. She could make herself the sole source of Regina's love, thus becoming the only one on the receiving end.

With a small slip of paper, so close yet so far from her grasp, Cora could get her Regina to finally be the perfect daughter.

All she would require was the heart of the thing she loved most, and brilliantly, Cora had found the perfect loophole. Without a heart in her chest, she had never been capable of feeling love in the fullest sense for Regina. Thus, the only person who could possibly hold that title was herself. No man could ever be worthy enough of Cora's love, not after the last one, and still she had chosen herself over him. She knew it was the perfect solution, and with a little magical intervention, she could get her own heart to fuel the curse.

It would be simple, really. The caster of the curse couldn't die, as curses need a driving force to control them. Her heart would be held in a stasis of sorts, and as long as it remained outside of her chest, the curse would hold. She just needed that paper so all could finally be hers.

And she knew just how to trick the dark one into letting her have it.

* * *

_Present: Storybrooke, the Apartment_

Try as she might to get Henry to go to bed in their shared room, Emma just could not get him to settle down. Who could blame the kid when his all time favorite new person was spending the night? She understood, and in the back of her head Emma knew she would end up having to find a compromise, but she still had to at least pretend she was a good enough parent to enforce Henry going to sleep in his own bed.

Sleeping arrangements in the loft were less than favorable. As it was, Mary Margaret was already sleeping behind what amounted to a curtain. Emma and Henry shared the bedroom upstairs for the time being, though they were working on getting the landlord Gold's permission to add a wall and another door into the spacious upstairs area to give them both some privacy. Apparently that was considered major construction, so he would need to approve it, being the owner and all. Emma considered that a bunch of bull shit, as he was the least personable man to have to deal with unless you were 50 shades of shady, but the recent jailing of Madame Mayor at her hand did stand the chance of putting him in a better mood. The only thing he hated more than late rent was the city's "beloved" mayor.

Due to the poor spacing of the loft, there were not a lot of places to stick Regina.

"Are you sure you don't mind sleeping on the couch?" Emma asked for the third time, feeling like a jerk for not giving the ill woman her bed. She had to worry about Henry, though, and since they still shared a bedroom, she didn't think it would be appropriate for him to be alone in a room during the night with a woman they still both barely knew.

Emma wasn't afraid she would purposefully do anything to him, but she had spent enough time around traumatized individuals to know that sometimes the night was when their subconscious minds could act out in peculiar ways, and she definitely didn't want Henry to be alone with her on the chance that she might wake up screaming or something. That would give him nightmares for a month. Maybe, after a few nights, she would feel comfortable with doing so if Regina seemed okay.

"I promise you I have slept on much worse. Besides, you already told me this pulls out into a bed. I just hope I'm not too much of a burden on you as it is," Regina confessed.

"You aren't a burden on me at all. The kid loves having you here and I intend to keep my promise to keep you safe." She didn't add that there was something about the brunette's presence that gave her an odd sense of ease, and that she actually enjoyed having her around as well, afraid it would sound odd coming from her lips. Henry was allowed to love without abandon since he was just a child. But Emma, she couldn't admit to loving Regina's presence. It would just look strange. As it was, she was beginning to creep herself out with how much she enjoyed simply sitting next to her on a couch and watching her laugh at the television in those few moments where the movie had distracted her from her recent trauma.

"Yes, well, I insist to you that I will be fine here."

"Mama, where's my sleeping bag?" Henry asked while tugging on the sleeve of her pajamas. The only way she had ultimately convinced him of bedtime was to make it bedtime for everyone, and after such a tiring day, it really wasn't that hard of a decision to make.

"Why do you need your sleeping bag, bud?" Emma asked in confusion.

He smiled up at her— and, oh no, she knew that look and feared it like no other— and then he blinked those big thick lashes and Emma could have predicted word for word what came out of his mouth next.

"Because Regina's sleeping over, and you're supposed to sleep in sleeping bags at sleepovers, right?" he asked, genuinely concerned that he may have been going about the standard rules for sleeping over incorrectly.

"Yes, generally that's what happens, but you're not sleeping down here with Regina, Henry. You're sleeping in your own bed," Emma said sternly, while inside she wanted to cave in to those adorable brown eyes looking up at her with hope that she was being forced to crush.

"Why not? I a big boy now, Mama," he said, puffing out his tiny chest dramatically.

Emma and Regina both laughed at the antic, Emma's fuller in sound, but not nearly as sweet as even the tiniest chuckle she managed to get from Regina.

"I know you are, kid, but you have your own bed here that's all ready for you. Besides, Regina needs her rest, so she can't have a sleepover with you tonight."

"I'll go right to sleep!" Henry tried again, this time going for the full effect of puffing his bottom lip out. Elsie barked in union as she bounded up next to him, energy pouring off her in waves with every happy little pant.

"Not tonight, kid," Emma said firmly, raising an eyebrow that just dared him to try and question her final word on the subject. If he could play it hard, she could too.

With a sad frown— a last resort, Emma figured— Henry sighed drastically and looked down to the floor.

"Fine. Can I at least say goodnight?"

"Yes, you may do that. But then it's up to bed, mister. It is way past your bedtime, and you and I will both regret that enough as it is come tomorrow morning."

Henry walked up to Regina, who was currently fiddling with the edges of a pillow left on the made-up sofa couch just for her. She looked at him in confusion before two tiny arms gently wrapped around her waist, and Henry melted into her stomach with all the trust in the world. Emma couldn't help the way her heart fluttered by how obviously safe Regina made him feel in her presence. After a moment, two larger arms wrapped around his little body and Regina pulled him close, smiling as she stared down at the top of his head in wonder.

"Night night, Regina," he murmured, content to stay cuddled to her all night.

"Goodnight, Henry."

Reluctantly, the kid finally removed himself from Regina and trudged upstairs, lingering on each step in a nearly agonizing way. Emma knew he didn't want to leave but it was the only option that she felt fully comfortable with.

Now there was just Regina to figure out. The woman still seemed weary every time she was left with Mary Margaret, which made Emma wonder just how good of an idea it would be to leave her alone downstairs with the other woman.

"Hey, Regina, I'm just going to brush my teeth and I'll be right back, okay?" Emma said while walking off to the bathroom where her roommate was currently getting ready for bed. Regina had already been taken care of with the help of a spare toothbrush they had sitting around in case of overnight guests.

She pushed open the cracked door and found Mary Margaret spitting her toothpaste into the sink, humming contently to herself. "Everything all right?" the pixie haired brunette asked, way too cheery for Emma after such an exhausting day, but it was so entirely her roommate's personality that it was almost soothing to hear.

"Yeah, it's just… I hate to even suggest it since I feel like all I've done today is inconvenience you, but-"

"But you want to switch beds so you can keep an eye on Regina?"

Emma blinked slowly and looked down at her feet. "I mean, if you don't mind. I'm just really worried about her and what she might do in her sleep," she explained.

"Emma, say no more. I get it; Regina doesn't exactly seem as warmed up to me as she does you and Henry. She would probably feel much safer if you were there for her."

Emma sighed in relief, smiling her thanks at Mary Margaret without the words to properly express it. "I owe you big time for all this," she promised.

Mary Margaret just laughed and turned back to finish getting ready for bed. "Emma, you're a good person to do all this for her. You don't owe me anything. However, I do like mint chocolate chip ice cream."

"Done," Emma joked with a chuckle. "Your price is high, but worth it."

Mary Margaret rolled her eyes and placed her toothbrush back in the holder. "All right, I'll go make sure Henry gets in bed all right. You can go play valiant knight and protect your Princess."

"If I didn't know better I'd think you secretly want Henry's fairy tale theory to be true."

Mary Margaret shrugged, but her eyes glimmered mischievously. "It would be rather fun, don't you think? I'd be a fun mom  _and_  able to talk to birds!"

With that, her roommate left, leaving Emma the bathroom to herself.

* * *

Five minutes of lying awake quickly turned to three hours. Regina had gone to bed with Elsie curled up into her side, both seemingly warn out from the day. Emma only wished her own body would allow for a similar response. Every time she tried to close her eyes, images of something happening to Regina filled her head, and she once again had to get up to peek through the curtain and make sure she was still sleeping peacefully.

Regina continued to cough in her sleep, making her wonder how she could possibly feel comfortable enough to relax at all. It still sounded painful, but Regina had never once complained about it.

Just as she thought she might finally be able to trick her mind into sleep, even just for a short while, there was a thump. The room was dark, leaving only enough light for Emma to make out basic shapes. A rustling sound by the curtain was enough to tell her that someone was there, and soon the shape of a woman came into Emma's view.

"Regina?" she whispered.

The other woman continued to silently approach, waiting until she had taken a seat on the edge of Emma's bed to speak, and even then it was only a quiet, "It's me."

"Is everything all right?" Emma asked. She was trying not to panic, after all, Regina wandering about didn't necessarily mean anything had to be wrong. Her coughing could have just woke her up, or maybe she wanted water and needed some help finding the glasses in the dark.

What Emma wasn't expecting was for Regina to crawl up onto the mattress the rest of the way and wriggle up against her until she was all but clinging to Emma's side and snuggling in.

Her first instinct was to freeze. One wrong move could remind Regina of where she was and set her off, or so she thought. Her mind was spinning, taking too long to catch up and comprehend what was happening. With a deep breath, Emma forced herself to slow down and think through every step of what had just occurred before acting.

Regina was on her bed— check. Regina was also curled up against her— check. It was the middle of the night and Henry was obliviously sleeping upstairs— double check.

At some point in her tossing and turning, Emma had kicked the covers off. Now she was beginning to regret that move, as it left for no barrier between them. Even in the darkness, Emma could feel how close she was, and had to suppress a shiver when their bare legs touched.

"Regina," Emma paused, realization slowly dawning on her tired mind, "What happened to the pants I gave you to sleep in?"

Regina's breath came out in hot puffs against her neck, starting with a half-hearted chuckle. "I took them off," she husked matter-of-factly.

"Did, uhm…" Emma's mind was whirring. She licked her lips and gulped. "Did something happen to them?"

"No," Regina replied simply.

It was at that point that she shifted again, and Emma wished desperately that she hadn't. She'd raised her hand to rub at her bleary eyes, hoping that maybe this was all just some strange dream, but on the way back down it brushed against something decided soft, bare, and not her own.

She barely suppressed her own squeak of shock and ripped her hand away like it was on fire.

"You're allowed to touch," Regina husked, wriggling against her once more.

Before her brain could catch up enough to formulate a response, a searing wet kiss was placed just below her ear, and Emma's instincts finally kicked into high gear. She jolted in shock, trying to push herself away before anything else could regrettably occur, and ended up jerking a bit too far. The ground met her side with a painful thud. Emma groaned and bit her fist, trying not to cry out and risk waking Henry up.

"What the fuck?" she hissed instead, deciding it was time to put an end to whatever was happening.

Blindly, she reached up to the end table and felt around the lamp for the switch, only managing to knock down about three items in the process, which felt like success after everything else.

The light flickered on after a second and filled the small space, covering them both in a soft orange glow. Emma had to blink a few times to make sure she wasn't delirious, but sure enough, Regina was sitting in the center of her bed, completely naked and crinkling her forehead with a pout.

She tried to stop her eyes from taking in the tanned flesh, but without the clinical reminder of why she shouldn't, Emma couldn't stop herself. Regina wasn't just a pretty girl; she was absolutely breathtaking in every way. Her curves were supple, hanging freely and pert as they adjusted to the cold air.

Emma's body was quickly responding, warmth coiling deep within her, and it tore her apart down the middle in the space between her desire for Regina and her knowledge of why she shouldn't be feeling those things. The moment was so entirely unexpected, so unfathomable, that she could barely convince herself this wasn't all just some elaborate and twisted dream. Regina wasn't  _really_  just sitting on her roommate's bed, naked and waiting for her.

She kept blinking, but it did nothing to change the image playing out before her.

"What… uhm, what are you doing?" Emma finally managed to ask. Regina didn't seem the slightest bit modest or move to cover herself, which only served to further Emma's confusion.

"I was going to thank you," Regina said with a slight twist to her lips. "I don't understand. Have I done something wrong?"

"You're naked!" was all Emma could say. She finally forced her eyes away from the unimaginable sight, focusing hard on the ceiling and hoping Regina would take the hint to cover herself better. She didn't.

"Oh, did you want to undress me yourself? I can put my clothes back on." The rustling sound indicated Regina was probably moving to stand, which would definitely only worsen the situation.

"NO!" Emma paused, taking a deep breath and lowering her voice. "I mean, yes, you should probably put those back on. Just not so I can remove them."

"Oh," Regina replied, dejection clear in her tone.

"Most people send a thank you card or even just say the words. But you're naked!" Emma burst out, unable to stop the words from flying out her mouth when they were all she could think. It was clearly the wrong thing to say, which she realized immediately. Emma rubbed at her temple to stave off a coming headache and took a deep shuddering breath.

"I apologize. I should have realized you wouldn't want me."

"No, that's not it," Emma said more calmly, not thinking about what she was saying anymore. Wasn't that exactly it? She couldn't possibly want to have sex with Regina, right? Logically she didn't, not when the other woman was clearly in no state to be doing such activities, physically or mentally. But the other part of her, the libido that sprung to life once again at the thought, was more than a little interested in having that experience with Regina.

Frankly, Emma found it all confusing as hell and wished Regina would just put her damn pants back on so she could sort through her feelings without so many distractions. She took a deep breath and braced herself to face the other woman, praying her eyes would land on Regina's face first to spare any more awkward moments. Regina came first and Regina needed her, so she would suck it up and push her hormones to the back burner for the time being.

With a final wish to the stars, Emma removed her sight from the ceiling and luckily found Regina's face with ease. If she pretended she wasn't naked, she might just be able to make it through this conversation.

Or not.

"You're a beautiful woman, Regina. Anyone would be lucky to be with you, but not like this. What I mean is… it's not normal to thank people by getting in bed with them naked. Well, at least, not unless you're a couple. But even then it's kind of… ugh," Emma babbled. She didn't really know how to explain her point, seeing as it wasn't one she ever thought would need explained to an adult woman. Regina's face was of pure intrigue, eyes wide and lips parted as new information flowed into her mind for what appeared to be the first time.

"Then I apologize, Emma. Mother always demanded it be this way, so I assumed you would wish the same," Regina explained quietly, almost closing in on herself. She shifted, causing some of the covers that had bunched up during Emma's fall to move away from her lower half. The movement caught Emma's eye, despite her best efforts to look away, and for the first time she understood why Regina hadn't wanted her pants removed at the hospital.

There were marks on her thighs, some old and various shades of pink, others still deep red and purple. One in particular stood out along the crevice between her legs, just a few inches below her hips. It was puffy and crescent shaped, clearly new and desperately in need of some disinfectant. The shape was odd but not unfamiliar to Emma, who was accustomed to bite marks from some of her more wild youthful days. This particular one was nasty and bruising, painful enough to cause her to wince in sympathy.

It was only after Emma's concern took root that she began to put the pieces together. Regina couldn't have bitten herself at such an angle. Regina said her mother demanded thanks through sex. All at once, realization ran through her, and Emma felt overcome with sickness.

"Did your mother do that to you? Did she touch you like that?" Her voice cracked on the questions, and Emma almost hoped Regina wouldn't answer.

"Mother believed I should show her my love in every way. That's why I wanted to do this for you."

Emma's head spun and her stomach churned. "Fuck!" she cursed, jumping up from the wooden paneling and all but falling over herself on the way to the makeshift door. Mary Margaret kept a small garbage can in the room, mostly for decorative purposes, but it was all Emma could do to clutch it before emptying her stomach contents into the bin.

She spat at the foul taste of stomach acid, cringing at the way it burned the back of her throat. With a cruel twist of fate, Regina was by her side to hold her hair back, which only made Emma feel worse. She was supposed to be taking care of Regina, not the other way around. With a shaky breath, Emma wiped her chin on the back of her hand and turned to look at Regina, waving her away a few steps.

"I'm sorry I disgust you. I can leave," Regina whispered, staring at the floor.

"Fuck, no," Emma spoke as sternly as she could. She reached out the hand without any vomit remains and used it to lift Regina's chin. "You listen to me. You did nothing wrong, okay? I'm not disgusted by you; I'm disgusted by what that monster did to you. It's not all right, Regina. It makes me sick that she put you through that. Sex should be something both people want and enjoy. It shouldn't be about proving anything. You deserve so much better than that."

"I think I understand." Regina nodded to herself, shoulders rising slightly. "I should probably get dressed, seeing as you do not wish to be with me."

"Trust me, I want to. But until you want me for the right reasons, it can't happen. I don't want to take advantage of you like that, okay? And if it never happens, don't push it just for me. I'll still be here for you even if you're a celibate 80 year old hermit," Emma promised.

Regina smiled at her and let out a deep breath. "Thank you for being so good to me."

Emma returned the smile and removed her hand from Regina's chin to run her knuckles along her cheek. She moved slowly against the soft skin before tenderly pushing a few strands back behind Regina's ear.

"Now, before you go back to bed, I want to clean that wound on your leg. It looks like it might be getting infected, and I think we would both prefer to avoid any more hospital visits. Where did you leave your clothes?" Emma looked around in the dimly lit area but didn't see any.

"I left them on the couch."

"Okay. You wait for me here on the bed; I'm going to grab your clothes and some antiseptic from the bathroom."

True to her word, the night clothes were right on the couch where Regina said they would be, and Emma was able to find a bandage and some Neosporin with a fair amount of ease for the middle of the night. Emma dropped the soiled bin in the bathroom to deal with in the morning, knowing she would regret the smell but too tired to care. She made quick work of washing her hands and brushing her teeth to get rid of the fowl taste.

She returned to find Regina propped up by a pillow, this time hiding her body with a blanket, much to Emma's relief. She tossed the clothes on the bed and turned around to give her a bit of privacy.

"Here, put those back on. Just leave off the pants so I can clean that up for you," Emma explained. Her fingers fiddled with the medical supplies in her hands while she waited, wondering how long a shirt could possibly take to put on. After what felt like forever, Regina called out that she was covered, so Emma turned around.

She was on top of the covers now, wearing only Emma's loose-fitting t-shirt and a pair of her boxers. Her legs were spread in preparation for Emma's cleaning, and she realized reluctantly that she was supposed to touch her in order to do so.

Regina coughed wetly into her elbow, bringing Emma back to the present. It gave her just enough motivation to walk forward and climb onto the bed. To get at the bite mark, she had to pull up the fabric an inch or so at the base of the boxers. Regina shuddered when Emma's fingers slid across her skin. She took a deep breath and pretended not to notice.

Emma made quick work of cleaning and bandaging the wound, patting the bandage in place with a satisfactory grin at her accomplishment. "All set," Emma declared.

Instead of putting her pants back on and leaving, Regina scooted herself up to the pillows and moved the covers back on top of herself.

"Do you mind if I still sleep here?" she asked before yawning adorably.

"Oh, uhm, yeah. I can take the couch if you want. I'm sure Mary Margaret won't mind."

Emma turned to leave, now far too tired to argue over something as simple as sleeping arrangements, but Regina stopped her.

"No, I meant with you." Her voice sounded smaller than usual, but Emma recognized it immediately from enough nights with Henry.

"Nightmare?" she asked, no judgment in her tone.

"I keep imagining she's coming for me."

"Scoot over," Emma commanded with a groan.

Regina happily obliged, leaving enough room on the smaller bed for Emma to comfortably fit before snuggling into a pillow.

Emma stayed as close to the edge as possible, wanting to leave a respectable amount of space between them. She reached out to click off the lamp once she was settled in, plunging them both into darkness again. When a hand reached through the shadows for her own, Emma felt herself complying with the request and squeezed back.


End file.
